[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Welcome to the Victory Show.
Hey, victors. Welcome to this episode of the Victory Show. If this is the first time you're joining us, I'm Travis Cody, bestselling author of 16 books. And I've had the privilege of helping hundreds of business consultants, founders, entrepreneurs, write and publish their own bestselling books. Well, and during that journey, I've discovered a really fascinating pattern. Many businesses hit a revenue plateau, usually around a million dollars, and they struggle to break through it. So on this show, I sit down with some of the world's most successful CEOs, founders, leaders, and business owners to uncover the strategies they used to overcome that plateau and scale their business to new heights so that you can do the same thing. So get ready for some deep insights and actionable takeaways that you can implement in your life and business, starting right away.
Today's GU is the kind of woman who doesn't just overcome obstacles. She builds empires from them. Jill McHugh grew up in rural poverty outside a fading milltown in South Carolina. And she was the first in her family to go to college. And that was even after everyone told her, don't go.
I'm sure we've all kind of been there. The little hooks are trying to pull you back in. But Jill had other plans. Fortunately for us, she left. She hustled, and she's never looked back. From social worker to nonprofit executive, she quickly found her zone, stepping into interim leadership roles where she assesses, fixes, and scales with fearless precision. Alongside her husband, she's built and sold businesses. She launched a virtual therapy firm. She co founded a startup called Cardberry, which we'll talk about because it's really interesting. And in 2024, she and her husband took over the Chelsea, an iconic multi million dollar restaurant in New Bern, Carolina, with a legacy as rich as the town's history, including Elvis Presley's favorite booth and more.
Jill is a woman of multiple revenue streams, limitless resources, and a deep belief that being BO is a superpower, especially when it's channeled into purpose. Her life is a testament to betting on yourself, honoring where you came from, and building a future that no one thought was possible except for her. So, Jill, thanks so much for being here.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you for having me, Travis.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: You know, in today's culture, the whole, like, the term boss girl is kind of the, the acronym now. But you were the original bossy.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Probably.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Starting at 5 years old. I, I acquired that reputation from.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: So was your grandfather. So you said something about your grandfather, gave you a quote that I Love. Do you want to share that with the.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So we talked earlier.
You know, I was growing up, it was, I kind of was the one pointing fingers and giving the orders and you know, family would always joke, oh, you know, she. Jill's so bossy. And I just remember my grandfather, who was my favorite person, most influential person in my life and kind of really was the wind beneath my wings. I remember him saying, sugar, somebody's gotta be bossy and it might as well be you that does it. And I just, and it just kind of resonated with me and you know, as I, as I moved through school and college, grad school, my career, and it was, it just was, you know, somebody's got to do it. It might as well be me.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that was one of the lessons when I got to college I was actually surprised at is how few people actually wanted to be a leader and how many people just wanted a leader to tell them what to do.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: So. Yeah, so. And that is, that is a superpower and it is, it is needed. So. So you have a three year old daughter. Is she bossy?
[00:03:40] Speaker A: She is. And I try not to, I try not to use the word bossy. And you know, it was, it was always stuck out as a negative word in my mind until I came into it in my late 20s. And so now if somebody uses the word bossy rounder, I am quick to jump in and say, that's a great leadership skill.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Like, you know, embrace it now.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: I was just curious if the jeans passed on. So we've got, we've got bossy. Bossy squared.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: You should ask my husband about that.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: So let's talk a little bit about growing up in a town that was, was a former mill town. So was the mill still going when you were growing up or had it kind of closed down and the city was just kind of in a slow decline at that point?
[00:04:22] Speaker A: I was probably. It was in the early 90s that it shut down.
It was in our county, we had five textile mills and they phased in the late 80s or early 90s that.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Like 50% of the jobs of the county.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Lost their jobs. It was just, I mean, no new industry came to town.
It was just, it's. It always unfortunately has been this just dying rural, rural area in the upstate of South Carolina, 45 minutes off of any major highway or interstate.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: And the, the school that I went to is the smallest public school in the state. Had the same 18 people that I started with a kindergarten or graduated with on a.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Stuff that's Small.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Yeah, very small.
And you know, there were a lot of, A lot of perks to growing up in a really, like, extremely small town, but the exposure was not there really. And so luckily I had a few folks in my life that just really pushed and said, you got to get out of here, you got to do something. And not just, you know, kind of stay and, and settle for nine to five, which there's nothing wrong with that if that's your. If that's your thing.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: And so, I mean, yeah, it was. I. I kind of moved to college and kind of really never looked back.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: So was college a kind of a way out? Did you know what you wanted to do going into college or did you sort of find your way when you were there?
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah, so started working when I was 15. My, my mom has an incredible work ethic, and so I was a nursing major. I went to the University of South Carolina. You know, going from 18 people in your graduating class to, you know, psych 101 with a class of 250 people is a culture shock, even if it was only an hour or so down the road.
And so I was like, oh, I'll be a nurse. And then quickly figured out biology was not my thing.
And long story short, I found this. I needed a job and I found this part time job at a clinic in town in Columbia, working with Medicaid patients and kids in foster care. Fell in love, head over heels in love with kids that were in foster care and just started like doing extra projects, finding prom dresses and making sure they had Christmas presents. And so one day, the dirt. One of the nurse practitioners came in my office and she said, hey, do you want to be our social worker? And I remember asking Jeeves, what does a social worker do?
And it was kind of like this just, you know, aha moment. And it was like, oh, this is for me.
And so change majors.
Dove in, got my master's in social work and started out in school, social work, and then found that being in a system, following others was, was not easy for me.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: And so, yeah, stumbled into the nonprofit world and just kind of evolved from there into leadership.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Wow. So. So at an early age, you were. Impact was very big in, in what you were doing.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it was, it was, it, you know, it always had this, this heart for helping others. And it was like, oh, this is a career and I can. Right? I like, this is a career and I can, I can really.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Change. It's my whole career has been, you know, how can I, how can I Jump in and help change the trajectory of someone's life that just needs something, whether it's tangible or a resource, whatever it may be. And so it's been about storytelling, helping someone else's story.
And so, I mean, this clinic was really kind of the fire starter for that.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Wow.
So how do you pivot out of social work and nonprofit work into entrepreneurship? What, what, what's that journey look like?
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Well, so I got into the nonprofit world as starting as a crisis counselor and then worked my way into an executive director role and took that and ran with it. Within a certain nonprofit, we created programs. We tripled the budget.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Like, tripled our fundraising efforts. We were the first.
We were the first residential home for kids that were homeless and not any system. So kids ages 17 to 19 or so that were homeless because family members have passed away, parents were on drugs, whatever the case was.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: There was no, say, the foster care too. People don't like, the thing that doesn't get a paid attention to is kids age out.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Yes. There's nowhere for them to go. Foster care.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: And then 18, they're like, good luck. And it's like, yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: And somebody. And you know, someone I can remember, like I was at a board meeting and they were like, well, you know, we can't really do anything about that. And it was like, you know what? Like, hold my beer. Yes, we can. Like, we can write a grant, can add these beds. So by the time we left, we went from 4 beds to 60 something beds for these kids aging out. I mean, it was just this incredible program that we had. Anyway, so got married. Married this guy that had the same entrepreneurial spirit, high level, you know, great business acumen. It's super visionary.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: And we just meshed and. And worked well on all, all levels, not just business. Okay. So I mean, you can't just like, be. Marry a business partner and whatever. I mean, I guess you can.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Anyway, so they do it in Hollywood all the time. I'm not gonna say there's not the longevity. Isn't that super great on those?
[00:10:02] Speaker A: But.
Right. But when I was 20, when I was 23, I was like, you know, I really want to buy a house. Like, that's a goal. I want to buy my own house.
And I did. I bought a foreclosure, and I was like, oh, this is like, this is great.
And so then three years later, I bought a second house and I said, well, I'll rent out my first house for extra income.
So I had that house for, I don't know, five or Six years. But the second house I bought had a mother in law suite that was completely separate in the bottom. So I rented that out as well to traveling nurses through Airbnb. So I had these. Had a job.
I taught at USC on an adjunct level. And then I had these two passive income streams from rental properties. And I was crazy as what this was.
And so we sold. We sold, you know, house or whatever, and then we ended up. My husband's a man of many talents, and he had been in the restaurant chef life. And when we got married, he was doing basically heavy civil work, fine grading, excavating. And we bought equipment and opened our own construction business.
Yeah, did really. It did really well. And then when the economy started to plummet, we sold out. And I'll tell you that again. Read this or heard this in an audiobook that are. Yeah, audiobook that. One of the best things, one of the most successful decisions you can make is knowing when to jump ship.
And it's not failure if you sell out or if you, you know, stop or jump ship. It's. It's actually smart doing it at the right time before, you know, you plateau, maybe if. But when you start to do this, you need to jump out.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: And so we were fortunate and we jumped out for three or four years ago.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: And so did you help him manage the paving business or was that his. His own thing and you had your own stuff going on, so.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Well, yes and no. So I did the books, you know, the behind the scenes, the counting the books, the boring stuff.
He's incredible with marketing and sales.
That's in his realm. And during that time, I was doing some interim and consulting work. So I worked with nonprofits, kind of jumping in as interim executive directors and saying, oh, here's how we can evolve and grow.
Let's, you know, double your budget or, you know, whatever your programs or whatever. So I would jump in, kind of fix things, put the permanent people in place, and jump back out and then jump into another nonprofit.
And while. While we had this construction business going, and then, you know, when we sold out, it was like, oh, what do we want to do next? And I'll tell you, Travis, we looked at so many businesses.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: I never want to look at people's financials again. Okay, Vetting businesses.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Well, at least you have the opportunity to take a step back now and go, okay, really? What do we want to do? But. But I just want to bring something up here. Your husband's running a successful business. You're helping it, and on the side is your Hobby. You're going into nonprofits and fixing them. I love that. That was your hobby. You're like, oh, yeah, what do you know? I'll go and then fix this guy's.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Farm, get himself straight while we had this newborn. I mean, you know, so.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: While. So hanging out over here while I'm on zoom calls.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: So when you guys started looking at businesses, did you have an idea or did you just start looking into everything that was for sale? You started looking at.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: So we had. We knew there were basically two stipulations. We wanted to acquire a business. We didn't want to. We didn't want to go into the startup world. We wanted to acquire. And it had to have real estate with it, because if you're leasing, I will. I will die on this hill. Fall on this sword. Whatever.
Real buying, purchasing the real estate is just much more lucrative in the long run than leasing. So it had to have real estate, and it couldn't be a startup.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: That seemed to have worked out okay for the McDonald's.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. Right.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: And so, I mean, we vetted Laundromats. It's in.
And we looked at gas stations, medical equipment companies, and it was all kind of based on, like, their business model and. And their historical financials, because this was going to be basically the bank for. For our startup, Cardberry, which we can talk about later.
And my husband's Greek, and he's an incredible chef, and his love language is food, and that's how he. That's how he cares for people. And, you know, in the 10 years that we've been together, I've heard dozens of people say, you need to have a restaurant, you need to own a restaurant. And he swore he would never have a restaurant, and then we bought a restaurant.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Now, did it just sort of show up for you? Like, it was not on the radar, and then you just went and looked at it and went, okay, we can't say no to this.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: It. It really just popped up. I think I said to him one day, I was like, I cannot calm through financials anymore. We need to take a break from looking at businesses.
And I mean, we were traveling multiple states looking at different businesses, and he's an avid fisherman, and we love the coast, and, you know, we wanted to be on. On the coast. And so he was like, I found this restaurant is. It's. It comes with real estate. It has, you know, this large catering operation.
And it's on.
It's in eastern North Carolina in this charming hallmark Nicholas Sparkstown. Nicholas Sparks does live in our town. He does eat in our restaurant, funny enough.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: That's funny.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: And so we were like. So we called the broker and we were like, oh, we want to shop this. And she was like, oh, can you come into town this weekend? And we were like, yeah. And so, you know, we hopped in the car and drove five, six hours north and.
And drove over the bridge to this waterfront little town and fell in love. And we were like, this is it.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: So you packed up and bought the business and moved to the town?
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, we. Within. I mean, you know, I.
It.
Buying a business is not for the faint of heart.
And it was like. I mean, just the paperwork itself and the vetting, you know, and when you go through, you know, the financial stuff, it was not fun. It was an experience in and of itself. I feel like I could be an SBA consultant at this point.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: That's funny. So walk me through the first year, then, of buying a restaurant, because this is a completely different business model than paving.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, my husband has been in the hospitality industry from Cape Cod down to Fort Lauderdale and kind of knows. I mean, that's his thing.
He can look at a PMIX sheet, as they say, and tell you what's wrong and how to fix it. It is not my industry. And so I said, okay, well, the first year, while we're here doing restaurant things, I will not do nonprofit things. I will be behind the curtain and do some and do that. So I. You know, it was like we walked in. Great. I mean, this restaurant that we bought, I'll tell you, acquisitions, number one, the restaurant industry is extremely volatile.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: You are running very short profit margins. Just the labor pool is really small.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: The. The labor. The staff, in and of itself, is very unique.
So which. That could be a whole podcast on how to support your staff and the culture of the restaurant industry.
So the first thing we did, you know, first meeting with our staff, we walked in and we said, okay, we're switching to pure butter.
And this is going to be a respectful culture. There will be no yelling. There will be no profanity. We will all respect each other because, you know, restaurant industry is brutal, apparently.
Again, not my industry. It's things I've hurt. And so it's been. For me, it's been a pretty large learning curve, just learning the industry. My husband, I mean, he just.
He just soars in it. This is like, what he was really born to do, even though he'll tell you he was born to wake up and go fish, come back and Take a nap and live that European lifestyle.
But so the first year has been great. We were, it was kind of like a game. It was, you know, because this restaurant's been around 30 years, it's really iconic in this area.
You're coming to a small Southern town. So if you change the menu, we were going to be crucified on the front lawn. And so it was like, it literally when we would meet people, I mean, extremely hospitable people. Hey, I'm Jill. Oh, you just bought the Chelsea. Don't get rid of the shrimp and grits. And it was like, oh, nice to meet you too. You know.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: So it's been a delicate, it's been a delicate transition.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: But so you're not just dealing with a restaurant in of itself. You're also now, now like dealing with town culture, which is a whole other level of stuff.
That, that also, that's also a very southern thing to me.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: It is very. And, and I'll tell you, like, I come from southern small town, obviously, and so I know, I know how it is. But my husband's like Boston or Fort Lauderdale, and so he's very like sharp, cut and dry. And I'm like, you cannot say these things.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: And so when we get this, you know, like we changed the, the chicken on a dish to blackened chicken because it does taste better.
And we got called out on it and they were like, you can't change.
So it's been, it's just been delicate. It's been great and welcoming, but very delicate.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Have to like add a new dish in and not tell anybody and just let it be there and then swap it out.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Well, stealthily he wrote, he wrote the, a Saturday brunch menu and kind of slid it in there and it's been well received and he's working, working on like a steak a la carte type menu this week.
So we'll see what happens there.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: I love it. Okay, so one of your superpowers is assess, fix and scale. So let's talk a little bit about how when you go into either a restaurant or a company or non profit, like, what's your process that you go through to do to accomplish that?
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Yep. So it's, I observe first, I'm observing what the culture is. If it's, you know, if, if you don't have buy in from your staff, you're, you're, you're plummeting off the bat.
What's the leadership like? Culture comes from top down. So if your leaders are not, you know, if they're not coaching. If they're not invested, if they walk around with a scowl on their face. That's what I mean, that's what the staff's doing.
And you know, it's, we talked a little bit earlier about eos. Big fan of eos.
I think every, if you're investing in a startup, if you're acquiring, whatever the case is, if you're just managing, not just, but if you are managing a team on any level, you have to read the book Traction and at least pull some pieces from that.
And so I look at the org chart and you know, we fill in the boxes. Here's, here's the ideal org chart. And then are the people in place the right people? And when you're filling in, if you, when you're putting people in those boxes for those jobs, again, EOs, you're asking three questions. Do they get it, do they want it and do they have the capacity for it? Gwc get it, want it, capacity. And if they don't, they don't need to be there, they need to be in another position.
And so once you get your team in place, then you're assessing programs or the products that you're offering, the market assessment. Are you meeting a need? If you're not meeting a need?
For instance, at our restaurant, I can tell you all day what I would like to serve.
Is it going to sell? Probably not. So I'm going to sell what sells in our restaurant and what people are buying.
Same with a nonprofit. If, if, you know, if I'm serving the homeless here and there's two, if there's two homeless people in my town, what am I here for?
So you have to have this high level of discernment for.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: For the organizational purpose and, and then you know, piecing together the nuts and bolts later on.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: So how do you approach leadership? Especially like dealing with a leadership team and getting buy in, getting them to buy into the new vision you have for that. Because I'm going to assume just from my own experiences being in corporations that got bought out and having the new corporations not get buy in.
They, you know, they were, they were bossy in the negative, non productive way.
How, what, what's your approach when you come into a new company? Obviously you're looking at the culture, but then how do you, I guess share the vision with them to get them to go, oh yeah, this is actually a better direction more we're headed.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: I think you have to spend time learning and observing first. If I come in off the bat and I'm the Know it all. And I'm pointing my finger and I'm, you know, the bossy one. People are looking at me and rolling their eyes.
You know, we came into the. The day that we took over was the day that our. Our team at the restaurant learned that. That the restaurant had sold. No one had an idea a second before that.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: They didn't even know it was for sale. Huh.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: They did not know it was for sale at all. So it was very interesting.
And, you know, we. We literally had three seconds to make an impression.
And, you know, a couple days later, we held a staff meeting and we did.
We told them about ourselves and how excited we were to be there. And I was honest. I think that one of the best things that you can do is uphold your integrity and be transparent. If you're not transparent, you're losing people. You know, there's. There's no trust there. And I just said, I said I have zero restaurant industry experience. I have. I have no idea about any of this. I've ran large teams. I can run and build a budget. You know, I could do marketing. I cannot carry a tray of food.
I am not going to be the best, you know, hospitable person that is. Is serving a table. I know nothing about, you know, white wines, whatever the case is. And I think that was, you know, they respect that. Of, I'm not coming in here to tell you how you. How to do your job. I want to learn from you. And, and for me, it was fun. I get to be the fun parent at the restaurant because I said, we'll buy this as long as I don't have to hire or fire people.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: That's your husband's job.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: That's my husband's job. He's great at it. And I was like, I'm just not doing it. So I get to be the fun parent, you know, at the restaurant and do, like, social media and the marketing and all the, like, fun PR stuff.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: But I think, too, you just have to come in and build this culture of.
Of respect. And it is not the way that it's ran from since day one. They know what to expect. Expect.
They know the expectations of all of us. And it, you know, comes down to the. The experience of. For the guest.
And there's always going to be a conversation. It's never going to be, you're doing this wrong or you suck at this, or whatever the case is. It's going to be a, hey, tell me about this. What happened and how can we fix it?
[00:25:35] Speaker A: So it really just Comes down to, I think, integrity and culture.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: So how did the growth go for the first year of the company? Were you guys able to successfully do what you did before? Did you double?
[00:25:48] Speaker A: Yeah, we were up 2% year over year. And 2% may not sound like a.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Lot in the restaurant industry.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Yes. And when you get up, you know, into the millions, it's, I mean, it's pretty significant.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: And. Yeah.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: So how many staff do you have at the restaurant?
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Right now? We have 62.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Yeah, that's just like, just trying to track all those individuals and schedules is, yeah, that, that's, that's, that's quite something. So how do you ensure your employees stay happy with the, you know, with a mix that big, do you have like, are, are you working just with your managers or are you kind of boots on the ground working with everyday employees as well?
[00:26:29] Speaker A: Yeah, so we, yeah, so for instance, today I was in there shooting some content for social media and it was before we opened and some of our team was in there. Some of the, our, our line cooks and servers, they were, they were in on. And I was like, okay, well what kind of ideas? I mean it was just kind of a team effort and it was, I mean it was fun.
But one of the things, you know, I mean, money talks, right? Like people at the end of the day, you can show up with a pizza or donuts or you know, Dunkin coffees or whatever. People want more money. They want to be able to live comfortably or pay their bills. And so week two that we were there, we looked at wages and we were like, this is not okay. Like this is not where it should be. And so every single person back of house in the kitchen, all of our kitchen staff got sizable.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Raises, wage increases on week two that we were there to bring them up to where they were supposed to be. And I understand not everybody's able to do that when you acquire something. We had accounted for that in the acquisition and so. But it was, it was, you know, I mean that was one of the first changes that, that we made because if you can't compete on, you know, pay rate wise, you're going to have a high. I mean, in this industry, the turnover rate is astronomical anyway for a million different reasons.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: And so you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot with it.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I was really shocked like at the, you know, mid and what happened to the, that industry during COVID and watching what's going on, like just going down the street and seeing Panda Express. Tiny little Panda Express. And it was like line cooks, you know, $28 an hour. I was just like, whoa. I was like, it was amazing to see that. That. Because the turnover was so high and they needed the people. All right, so you've had a lot of success on a lot of different things. And even though you said you'd never do a startup, you did one anyway. So let's talk a little bit about what you've learned with Cardberry. First off, for the people listening, explain what card cardberry is.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Yeah, so Carberry is a startup. It's a greeting card subscription service. And in short, it's a, it's for, it's for those that want to maintain a connection, but kind of have a lot on their plate with all the adult tasks that you have in your life. And so you subscribe, it's 11.99amonth. You add in your special occasions or events, so you add in your anniversary, your, your child, or your spouse's birthday. Then we send you email reminders and we.
In that email, when you open it, it'll say, hey, Jill, Ron's birthday is coming up. Pick one of these four card designs. You click one time on a card design, and the card is in the mail to either, you know, you or your recipient.
And so it's. The goal is, is really to simplify connecting with others. And, you know, you don't want to discount connecting or showing people that you care or, you know, that you're thinking about them. But let's be honest, like, who wants to run to a Walgreens and stand in this sea of overwhelming card designs and then wait 20 minutes for checkout? Because that's what happens if you have kids. You're having to, I mean, car seats are a pain in their own rim to get kids and out of car seats.
And so it's, I mean, if, if they're not bringing it to my car, I'm not going in Walgreens, I don't think brings it to your car, at least in North Carolina.
So Carberry really just makes it convenient to care.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: All right, so what have been some of the, the challenges that you faced going with a startup? And what have been, what have been some of the big lessons that you're going to take with you into, into other businesses that you're running?
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So when my husband, the visionary came home and said, hey, this is what we're doing, and you're great at systems and resourceful and you can figure this out and I know you can make it work and take lead on this and My.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: My tech, I am stuck in the era of print and Master gold in literally 2001. Okay, so if, I hope someone at least knows that reference of what greeting cards you could design in print Master Gold, a CD rom. And you had six of them that you could choose.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: It took you three hours to get it figured out.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: Three hours. And your printer wouldn't work. It's just terrible. Anyway.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: And you thought you were amazing because you printed a card, right?
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Exactly. Poor quality, whatever. And so I started researching and I got paired with a tech consultant who was phenomenal and carried us through this. We worked with a, develop a, develop software developing company overseas and kind of created this backend system, this subscription system that, that's now patented from start to finish, created all these card designs and it's, it's just been a learning experience. I've not dove into, you know, the, the tech world that much other than like the daily task things.
And it's been a great, it's been a great learning experience, but also a challenge as well, which, I mean, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Right, sure.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: So like with the tech, what are, what are one or two things that surprised you when you had to start building tech systems from scratch?
[00:32:00] Speaker A: I thought it was gonna be a lot easier. Like how hard can it be to add a button or to change, you know, to create. I mean, I can build a squarespace website, but when you have this high volume subscription, back end, you know, portal that you're running, it's, it's much different apparently.
And it's, it takes time and a lot of money really to build these software developments. And then, I mean, fundraising. We're not doing fundraising right now. Maybe not ever, I don't know. But then there's this wave of AI and so now there's conversation of how can we utilize AI and how can that help our subscribers and what's the value add there?
And so it's just this, this evolving learning platform that I feel like I'm listening to more and more tech startup podcasts.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: People would have told you two years ago, oh, never.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: I would never have done any of this. It's been great though. It's been, I mean, we've, I've been connected with people overseas and people that have built these AI tools that can create basically people that you survey, your, your potential customers. I mean the, I tell you what has been the most difficult part is.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Is acquisition of, of subscribers. It's kind of learning who your potential subscribers are, where do they live and play and then how to get in front of them.
So.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: So yeah, and that's quite a bit different in terms of the marketing, say for the restaurant. Right?
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: Business. So how. How has your. Has your marketing strategies had to adjust to being a.
Essentially a tech platform?
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Well, it's all. I'm used to relationship building.
I am. Have been in fundraising for so long that it's. It's that face to face relationship building more on a micro level, even with national nonprofits. Even our restaurant, you know, is face to face. And so when you run a tech company, you're relying on. On social media and tech and paid ads and, you know, Google AdWords and things like that. And so it's been a learning curve for.
And I've had to rely on our product consultant, which is, you know, as a person who's always kind of done it myself, it's hard to. It's hard to kind of relinquish that and rely on. Okay, I trust you. I guess that this is going to work well.
[00:34:39] Speaker B: You know, there's aspects of my business where as a writer. So I was in Hollywood for 15 years. I was really good at writing screenplays. And when I took a hiatus, I'm like, I'm going to start writing. I'm going to turn my screenplays into fiction books. Completely different skill set.
And it was really hard for the first year. It was hard for me to accept the fact of, like, I'm really good over here. And here I'm a beginner because, boy, my ego did not want to say I'm not a beginner. I don't have to start. But I'm like, I got to start from ground zero. I got to start with the very basic stuff. So, yeah, that's a big deal.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Over and over and over again.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Oh, God, don't remind me. No.
Then I write something that's great and I get feedback on it and they poke all the holes in. You're like, I'm never gonna get this.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: I know the last two weeks I've kind of just. Or maybe probably more closer to two months. Honestly, I'm just like, I cannot, I cannot with Cardberry right now. Like, I'm. I just need to take a step back. And so I had a call, our product consultant this morning. I almost canceled. And when I. As soon as I opened up my screen, he was like, I knew you were going to try to cancel, but I wasn't going to let you because you need to jump back on.
On the machine. And I was like, okay.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: Well, at Least you got them holding you accountable.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Well, this is. Yeah.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: So what, what's the vision for, for both the Chelsea and Cardberry that's in there and I got a few final questions and we'll wrap things up.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: I think acquisition is the name of the game, honestly. Well, for us. And so you know, and, and we're, we're kind of more hands off. I mean we get into some of the weeds of the restaurant, but the goal is in the want to acquire another, another restaurant that has real estate or something. Maybe not a restaurant, but another business that commercial real estate is, is kind of our, our key right now.
One of the fun things, you know, again, my husband, the visionary, he has found a way to fish all the time as he just bought a boat and, and acquired a commercial fishing license to.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: To catch these fish. So from boat to the kitchen at the Chelsea is, is kind of the next thing.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: So in la, that's the farm. Farm to table, right?
[00:36:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Pick it at the farm in the morning and bring it straight to the restaurant. So he's doing that with fish.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: Your husband sneakily found a way to justify that big boat.
Oh yeah.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: He'S, he's resourceful.
But no, it's just, you know, acquisition Cardberry is we're going to move into the B2B phase. So we'll work with real estate firms, insurance firms, CPA firms to basically say let us into your CRM and let's put a personal touch on your customer service and design and brand some cards, some happy birthday or thank you for being with us one year or you know, come back to us, whatever that may be and we'll handle everything. We log into your CRM, we send the cards out. It's just this more hyper focused personal touch and it again trying to, just trying to improve people's stories.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: I love it. All right, well, I like to end every, every interview with, with three questions for you personally. So if you could go back in time, give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be and why?
[00:38:11] Speaker A: Oh man, that's a good question.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: I saved the good stuff for last.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so I'd probably have two, two pieces of advice. I would tell myself to go to grad school in a large city.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Outside of the south just for that exposure and experience.
And then I would.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: I would have double majored in grad school and not only gotten my msw, my Master's of social work, but also my jd.
I thought about going back to law school just to have you know, that Knowledge, but that's what I would have done. I would have taken that extra year and a half and just ran the race a little further.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: That's funny. My, my mentor in Hollywood started in law and then after four years was kind of tired of it. And he eventually became a producer working work on some huge names, produce huge movies. But I always kept his license active. And I remember towards the end of his career, we were doing something and he was tearing apart a contract. Oh, this is wrong. Somebody was like, I feel like I should go to law school so I can be on top of this stuff. And he's just stopped. And he said, don't do that. He's like, the only thing my law degree has been good for is to let me know when my attorney's trying to overcome bill me.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: Well, you know, from experience, in hindsight, that's why I would want it, because I've worked with a lot of attorneys on a lot of business contracts over the last 10 years.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: I would have saved.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: Man, oh man, I wish I had that.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: JD that's funny.
All right, so what belief or mindset shift has had the biggest impact on your success?
[00:39:47] Speaker A: Yeah, we, we talked about this earlier. We really, you know, we. I'm a, I'm a longer table, not higher fence type person. And so to do well in life, you have to do good.
One thing I think that, you know, our employees really value at the restaurant is it's not just a paycheck for them that, you know, we've helped, we've helped secure housing.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: We have helped on all different levels of resources and as a way of just, I mean, we want to invest in our, in our people because.
[00:40:22] Speaker A: You know, not everybody is as fortunate as we are. And so we like to give back as much as possible.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: Well, what a fantastic sort of meshing of your background and skills, though, because you were in the social works and you saw the things that most people are probably completely oblivious to. So that brings, allows you to come with a different perspective. That, that's beautiful. That's one of the coolest things I've heard yet.
Final question is, what's the best investment you've ever made in yourself?
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Oh, the best investment I've ever made in myself.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: I think. You know, I told myself a long time ago in my early 20s, that.
[00:41:08] Speaker A: That it was me that I could count on and it. And I was going to be reliable for myself. But with reliability comes accountability. And so it was kind of like this, this internal accountability of if you make this decision, you know, you're going to pay for it, good or bad, you know, 10, 20 years down the road.
And so I just remember driving in my car, I was right out of grad school and I was at a crossroads and I was like, okay, if I don't invest in myself and if I don't gain a very great sense of self worth, nobody's going to hand that to me. Like, it's, it's like, no, nobody's gonna hand it to me. And so it's kind of like I made a pact with myself of I'm gonna, I'm just gonna take every, every great opportunity that comes my way and put my head down and make it, because if I don't, then I'm gonna end up in a place where I don't want to be.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: And, you know, I kind of put it. It was kind of like, okay, fun's great and, you know, yeah, you have fun in your 20s or whatever. But it was, I just, I don't know, it was just kind of like, I just, I wanted to focus on what my future would look like.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: I love it.
Well, so if someone's your way and they want to go to the Chelsea, how. How do they find it? Where do they go?
Maybe somebody's not. Maybe they're in la, but they still want to check it out. How do they, how do they get. How do they get coming to the Chelsea?
[00:42:38] Speaker A: Yeah, we would love to have you or any, anybody who may be listening to this. So we are in New Bern, North Carolina, in the historic downtown.
Our building was built in 1913 and our first tenant was Caleb Bradham, who was the inventor of Pepsi. So his Pepsi Pharmacy was in our building. Very cool.
Yes. Elvis also ate there in the 50s, before he was like, you know, the king of rock and roll. But anyway, no, New Bern, North Carolina. You can go to the Chelsea.com or let me know that you're coming. Shoot me an email
[email protected].
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Awesome, Jill, thank you so much for your time. This has been fantastic.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Thank you. It's been fun.
