In this episode of Growing Our Future, host Aaron Alejandro welcomes Marty Bryan, a multifaceted entrepreneur, seasoned restaurateur, and a beacon of hospitality. Marty shares his journey, beginning with his upbringing in the FFA, through his experiences in the restaurant industry, to his current ventures. He emphasizes the importance of gratitude, faith, and hard work in his success, highlighting his commitment to providing hospitality and building connections through his businesses. Marty's leadership philosophy revolves around hiring the right people, fostering honesty, and exercising discipline, creating a thriving culture centered on service and excellence.
Through Marty's inspiring narrative, listeners gain insights into the power of gratitude, authenticity, and effective leadership in business. His emphasis on truth-telling, personal growth, and cultivating a supportive work environment underscores the importance of aligning values with actions to achieve success. The episode offers a compelling blend of personal anecdotes, practical wisdom, and entrepreneurial strategies, encouraging listeners to embrace challenges, pursue their passions, and prioritize meaningful connections in their professional endeavors.
Story Notes:
Learn more at MyTexasFFA.org
In this episode of Growing Our Future, host Aaron Alejandro welcomes Marty Bryan, a multifaceted entrepreneur, seasoned restaurateur, and a beacon of hospitality. Marty shares his journey, beginning with his upbringing in the FFA, through his experiences in the restaurant industry, to his current ventures. He emphasizes the importance of gratitude, faith, and hard work in his success, highlighting his commitment to providing hospitality and building connections through his businesses. Marty's leadership philosophy revolves around hiring the right people, fostering honesty, and exercising discipline, creating a thriving culture centered on service and excellence.
Through Marty's inspiring narrative, listeners gain insights into the power of gratitude, authenticity, and effective leadership in business. His emphasis on truth-telling, personal growth, and cultivating a supportive work environment underscores the importance of aligning values with actions to achieve success. The episode offers a compelling blend of personal anecdotes, practical wisdom, and entrepreneurial strategies, encouraging listeners to embrace challenges, pursue their passions, and prioritize meaningful connections in their professional endeavors.
Story Notes:
Learn more at MyTexasFFA.org
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. Here's your host, Aaron Alejandro.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast, we're glad you're here today. You know what? We're just glad to be here. It is always an honor to jump on a podcast. Bring on somebody who says, hey, listen, I want to talk about, I want to share my story, my experiences, my expertise I want to pour into others, and today we have got another exceptional guest. We have entrepreneur. I'm going to let him go through all this titles we have entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:I don't. I'm going to let him go through all this. Titles Entrepreneur, restaurant owner, all round, good guy, professional speaker, trainer Heck, he might even be an author. For all I know, we have Marty Bryan some incredible folks, people from the FFA, very near to my heart. I grew up in FFA. All four years in high school was on the parliamentary procedure. Team state officer did a lot of great things and for some reason I was even lucky enough to get a scholarship from FFA to go into my first year of school. So proud to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about that. Okay, we're going to circle back to that. So, one of the things that I like to do with all of our guests on every podcast episode I like to start them all the same way, because I think the right attitude and the right approach on a daily basis really can drive the success of our day. And that starts with the question of gratitude. Marty, what are you grateful for today?
Speaker 3:Well, I tell you, every day, when I start my day, the first thing I do is wake up and thank God for all the blessings. You know, certainly we all work hard and I recognize that at the end of the day it could all disappear. Tomorrow I'm kind of at His mercy and at the mercy of my team, our customers. You know you talk about having faith, because faith and gratitude kind of go along the same lines, and so you know, I was telling someone yesterday, when we wake up every day, there's no guarantee any customer is going to walk into our building.
Speaker 3:There's no guarantee any of the employees are going to show up. But every morning we have faith and we have a gratuitous attitude, knowing that, hey, people are going to show up today, we're going to make a difference in their life and in their day and they're going to come and celebrate their life in our businesses and we got to be ready for that. And then, as we prepare and we get ready for those people to show up, we're exercising faith that they're going to show up and then, equally important, we then become grateful that they actually got in their car and made it to our business. So I think they kind of go hand in hand. But, man, I'm super grateful for my team. You know, god's blessings over my family, our safety, our health, you know, and that's really probably what I pray, in addition to being having gratitude, is praying for health and safety for all the people that are in our community, our team, family and all that, so very important.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you something, marty. Everything that you just said is contagious no-transcript. And he asked him what is the opposite of gratitude? And he just kind of let it sink in and linger for a moment and then he said the opposite of gratitude is entitlement. And watch what happens. Your attitude goes from being grateful and appreciative and hopeful, angry. You know that's not fair. That's mine. Give it to me.
Speaker 2:And so when you start a day with gratitude that's the reason why I start every podcast with gratitude. It just sets a tone to look for the good, to have that appreciation, everything that you just shared. So thank you so much. And, by the way, I agree with everything you said. I'm grateful for my job, my family, my health. I'm grateful for this incredible country that gives me liberty and freedom and the chance to do and be all that I can be, and I just can't say enough for that. And then I get to work with you and great young people and great teachers and great sponsors. So I'm like you, I'm just. Every day, I just think there's something here to be thankful for.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very fortunate to get to what we do.
Speaker 2:All right, marty. So again I'm going to let you talk about all of your. I can't keep up with all your restaurants. Every time you and I talk, it's like you're opening up a new grand opening of this or a new grand opening of that. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, marty Bryan runs a very successful restaurants in the North Texas area. Okay, but I know he did not just fall into that chair, he did not just fall into that lap of luxury and success. He worked hard at it and there's a pathway there. Marty, take us through that if you don't mind and you kind of alluded to some of your FFA career but take us back and kind of walk us through that pathway that led you to this place that you're in right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll do my best to get through this quickly as I can, aaron, but I think in all of our lives there's always these pivotal moments that really define who we are and also kind of define our trajectory or the plan that God has for us. And for me it started at an early age, when I was, I think, 12 years old. My dad was in a car accident and we almost lost my dad and from that accident he became paralyzed from his waist down and during that period my brother and I became his primary caregivers. And so from that I mean we cooked for my dad, we bathed him, we helped turn him in the middle of the night, we pretty much did everything you could think of to function as a human on a daily basis. And then, after about, you know, two years, my dad was able to get rehabilitated and gain some independence. He's able to drive, go back to work Certainly grateful for that.
Speaker 3:But during that period you know we were forced to go on welfare and I remember being in the seventh grade you're very impressionable, right and so they would bring me these free lunch cards and put them on my desk in front of the whole entire class and I would kind of like reach over and just grab this thing because of how humiliated it made me feel, and from that you know we would go and my brother and I would go buy groceries at the grocery store and we would wait until there was no one at the checkout counter for us to go.
Speaker 3:And my brother and I'd go buy groceries at the grocery store and we would wait until there was no one at the checkout counter for us to go and process payment, because of the embarrassment we felt not being able to pay for things with their own money. And and so from that experience I learned this, and that is I don't want to be poor and I was going to do whatever it took to put myself in a place, no matter what type of sacrifice, no matter what type of hard work was required so that I could pay my own way. And what I felt and what I learned from that is it really kind of robbed. It'll rob you of your dignity. You know when you have to be totally reliant upon someone else, and the greatest gift we have is our ability to work and produce something of value to impact other people. And so I feel that those experiences is what kind of led me to hospitality.
Speaker 3:Because if you think about hospitality in the essence of the word, the root word of hospitality is hospital. But what do people do when they go to the hospital, they're going to seek healing Right. The root word of hospitality is hospital. But what do people do when they go to the hospital? They're going to seek healing right, and so one of the most healing things we can do in the restaurant business is provide an amazing meal, you know, amazing service, you know, in the facilities we build. And when people are, when they feel and they receive hospitality, it'll almost change their mindset right. One of the things Christ said before he went to go and dial the cross is he had a meal with his disciples.
Speaker 3:So it's one of the most intimate things you can do with another human to build relationships is to sit across someone, have an intimate conversation about life, whatever may be happening, and we get the opportunity to do that every single day. And so when you talk about gratitude, whatever may be happening, and we get the opportunity to do that every single day. And so when you talk about gratitude, Aaron, in the beginning, we're so grateful that we get an opportunity to connect other people in such a way that allows them to celebrate their life in our environment. And so if you think about you know I was- in my restaurant.
Speaker 3:This is my 34th year running restaurants. I was at Outback Steakhouse for 13 years. I was in my restaurant. This is my 34th year running restaurants.
Speaker 1:I was at Outback.
Speaker 3:Steakhouse for 13 years, started out as a cook, became a manager, was a training coordinator for four years. I traveled around the country opening Outback.
Speaker 1:My last five years at Outback, I was a managing partner.
Speaker 3:In 2003, I visited DFW and became an area director for Cotton Patch. At the time, they had 13 restaurants they wanted to grow.
Speaker 3:Obviously, that wasn't my experience. We helped them grow In the 13 years I was there, from 13 restaurants to 45. My last five years I was vice president of operations and I was responsible for purchasing operations, facility, new construction, it. Believe it or not, I don't know why they put me in charge of IT. I'm terrible. I was barely able to get onto the Zoom call this morning. That's why I was two minutes late. But you know, being responsible for a lot of things, even things that I wasn't necessarily the expert in, really taught me the importance of the relationship and how much you really need people on your team, and oftentimes a guy told me once he goes just because you have authority over a specific area of responsibility doesn't make you the
Speaker 3:expert and I'm like that, my friends, is brilliant because most young managers, one day they're a server, they're a bartender, there's something, and now the next day they're a manager and they automatically feel, as you said earlier, entitled to be, to to now be an expert over an area that they know nothing about, and so it's important to embrace the process and learn. You know, read lots of books, which is what I did, to kind of equip myself, to learn. I've read a ton of Zig Ziglar's books, you know, see at the top, amazing. So going into that experience with Cotton Patch was awesome. They sold the company in 2015,. I left in 16, and then I started putting Marty V's together in May of 16,. We opened November of 17. And you know, and what?
Speaker 3:I was hopefully trying to create at Marty B's and I feel like we have is we've created this huge, you know hill country setting. It's this huge barn-like structure. I always say it's either the color of the barn or a big roping arrangement. That's what I grew up doing.
Speaker 1:And then, underneath that, we've got a rooftop patio.
Speaker 3:We've got the restaurant underneath that, we've got all this outdoor space Seats 1,200. We're on six and a half acres, and so our desire was to create a place where people could walk into my business and escape their life, whatever it is and just connect with other people and enjoy life, whether it be through live music, doing stores around the fire pit, enjoying a great meal.
Speaker 3:It just kind of, you know, be able to enjoy all of God's blessings, right. So we did that in 17. In 2019, we created another restaurant called Rustico. It's our wood fire grill and wine bar. It's dinner only. It's super cool. It's closed. Wood fire grill and wine bar. It's dinner only. It's super cool. It's closed on Sundays. And then in 2020, we did 1845 Taste Texas, which is basically the story of Texas, 1845 being the year that we, as Texas, allowed the other part of the country to join us. Right, Because we were independent, we made the decision to join the union, and so it's the story of Texas. From our menu, we say it's designed like Dallas, tastes like Fort Worth. It's also dinner only. You know we got some amazing items. We got a smoked plum rib, a smoked and grilled pork chop. We do fried quail, locally sourced, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, humanely raised. Veteran on natural diet For all of our meats, those are our protocol.
Speaker 3:That's all that we buy, so it's not only tastes better, it's better for us, and you know we're certainly proud to be in a place where we have the courage to buy really great stuff and then be able to keep the price affordable for the folks to enjoy. Aaron, we did Marty B's Coffee in 2022, and that's been exceptional. It'll be open a year, two years, in June and then in September of 23,. We opened Marty B's To Go and that was just a product of having so much volume of To Go at Marty B's. We needed another facility to execute the volume of to go.
Speaker 3:we did, and it's all on the same property. So collectively out here I have about 22 acres. So we kind of created this little compound. And you know, you just said earlier I'm always building something new. Well, you're right, I am.
Speaker 3:I got seven projects in the hopper, so the next thing will be Marty B's Ice Cream. It'll open in March, so that's actually next month, middle of March 24. I'm doing a coffee shop Marty B's Coffee inside of Fellowship Church. It'll open this summer. Super excited to be working with Ed and Lisa. They're incredible. They do a fabulous job delivering heartfelt hospitality and they've just been a joy to work with. We will be doing also this summer branded bowls, that'll be our branded bowls.
Speaker 3:We're doing rice bowls, salad bowls, similar, you know, to like the chipotle or a cheloso, but again with us serving all the organic beef and produce and stuff. After branded bowls, bowls. This fall we'll be doing Cactus Canyon. That's our Tex-Mex place. It's going to be here in Argyle, tex-mex inspired beautiful facility, 8,100 square feet, middle seat about 325.
Speaker 3:And then this spring I'm sorry, next summer we'll open my wedding venue called the Reserve, at Marty B's and we'll be doing weddings, events, you know, just a litany of things that again bring people together. It's all about bringing people together. If you look at all of our restaurants, I don't have TVs in any of our restaurants, and that's intentional. The only place we have TV is at the bar. So when you're in the dining room, we really want people to come together and connect right.
Speaker 3:We have so many distractions today and we really do try to be as intentional as we can to give people, you know, the freedom and the environment to be able to do that, because that's where really life happens is when you're, you know, speaking to someone else. You know it might've been Zig Ziglar that said it, or Tom. The two biggest things that impact your life is the books you read, the people you meet, and so I feel like we've done a great job, being able to provide an environment where people can meet and discuss their dreams, their hopes, their spouse, a wedding, whatever it is.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, we all have an expiration and we you know, we do a lot of celebrations of life and I love that people want to celebrate people's lives versus you know, mourn their loss and certainly there's certainly sadness that exists when we lose someone close to us.
Speaker 1:But to be able to just celebrate.
Speaker 3:that is special, and to have a place where we can do that is, you know, heartwarming as well. So that's a kind of a quick run of where we started, where we are and you know kind of where we're headed. And so today, you know, when I wrap up this interview, guess where I'm going after I wrap up today's morning? I'm going to ice cream school. So I get to go and learn how to make ice cream. Hey, it's a sacrifice I make because I care about y'all. When I opened the coffee shop I gained 25 pounds. I'll probably gain 25 pounds again when I open the ice cream shop, but we're having fun with it and just grateful to get to do it every day.
Speaker 2:Marty, we're going to keep going here talk. I want to brag a little bit here about you. I want to tell everybody a little bit about the reconnection that Marty and I had. So we have family that live in the area where Marty B's is located and so they invited us one time to come down and eat at this really unique barbecue place. So we go down there, we eat at this barbecue. It's everything Marty just described. We we love the environment, we love the ambiance. We enjoyed our time with the family.
Speaker 2:It was just great, right. Well, come back to the Metroplex. Hey, let's go eat at Marty B's, so we all go back there this time. I'm so taken by it. I'm like this is a really cool place. So I asked the people that were there waiting on us and hosting us. I said, hey, does the owner of this place ever come in? I said, you know, I'd love to meet this guy or whoever it is one day. And they said, oh yeah, he's here all the time. I said that's great. I said is he here today? They said, oh yeah, he's here. And I said, oh yeah, he's here. I said where can I find him? They said, oh, that's him out front. And they pointed and there was this guy out front working on a rope and dummy and he was down on the ground.
Speaker 2:And you just immediately reflect on a story from our past. But it was just a moment of just how small this world is that we live in. But, marty, here's where I want to brag about you and I want to brag about and we're going to kind of talk about some of what I'm about to share. I get to work with corporate folks, sponsors, policymakers, dignitaries, politicians, athletes. I mean I have lived a blessed life. I cannot say enough how fortunate I am to have been given this gift that I've been given.
Speaker 2:But I can tell you this one thing that I know for sure is I have learned that a fountain can only rise as high as its head, and I've got to tell you that the culture that you create because of your leadership, your leadership style, your expectation of excellence, your expectation of service and quality, your enthusiasm about it, your graciousness about it, your empowerment I don't think I've ever heard y'all do anything less but be encouraging to one another All of those things combined have created this incredible culture. And I also believe that success begets success, and if you can be successful here, you can duplicate that here. And when I look at this incredible list that you've just provided of all of the new Marty B touch points, it's all under the umbrella of leadership. It's all under the umbrella of somebody who raised that fountain to the highest level. Marty, tell us a little bit about that, about why you're so passionate about service and hospitality and how you pour that into the people around you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you for that, and I do believe at an early age I recognized that God did gift me with the spirit of hospitality and you know, I recognize how important that is, you know. I also recognize that there are people that can go their whole entire life and not recognize their giftedness and I and my heart hurts for those people, you know, because they may wonder and be somewhat lost in their life because they'd never have understood God's purpose, and so when I wake up in the morning, whatever is on my heart or chest is what I choose to take action on, and I feel like that's where God speaks to me, and so if I take action on that, then I feel like God's going to keep talking to me.
Speaker 3:If I ignore it, then he may stop. And so every morning I wake up and whatever is on my heart, I'm taking action. I'm not a guy that walks around and making a list all day because when. I think of something.
Speaker 3:I just take action on it, I'm just doing it. If, when I think of something, I just take action on it, I'm just doing it. If I'm in a meeting and there's something that comes up, I make the phone call in the meeting and we handle it. Right then, because there's no time like the present right. But you know, if you were to ask me, some guy walked in here the other day and he goes hey, he goes.
Speaker 3:What do you feel is your secret sauce? And I go, honestly, it's very simple. It's three things. Number one it's who we hire. Right, I always say if we're going to teach an animal to climb a tree, do we train a horse or hire a squirrel? Well, squirrels are naturally gifted at climbing trees and no matter what the attitude of the horse, no matter how athletic he is, he just ain't going to be able to do it. And I think what we've got to do, and anyone in business has got to do, is they've got to identify the people that really represent their brand and can carry out the culture. And not everybody we hire is going to be able to do that. And our job is to make that call quickly for everyone's benefit.
Speaker 3:Just because they don't, they're not going to have success here doesn't mean they're not going to be successful other places there's a lot of things and you wouldn't want me doing, okay, but I just happen to be in an environment where I'm thriving because of God's giftedness. It's not anything I've done, but it's me taking action on the things that I've been blessed with. Right, I read a book by Phil McGraw and I got three words out of it Life rewards action. Okay, so there's so many people that sit back and reflect about all the things that they want to do. They dream they have all these wonderful ideas and then they get decision atrophy. They have no idea where to go, what to do, what action to take.
Speaker 3:Well, ready fire, aim. You got to go out and you got to take the step. And here's what I found as an entrepreneur the more steps I take, although the plan ahead isn't clear, god puts the right people in front of me. He puts the right things in front of me, but he wasn't going to do that until I took the first step. I got to take the step, I got to show a leap of faith, go down the path, and he's going to put the right people in front of me.
Speaker 3:So number one would be selection who do we hire? Number two is honesty truth. Be around a truth teller, be around people that are going to tell you the truth, and one of the things we are really good at is we tell you the truth, no matter how painful or how good it may seem. The truth is so critical and I firmly believe there are so many businesses today that don't tell their employees the truth and this may be an unpopular statement that I'm about to say but I believe one of the biggest problems big businesses face is the HR department. Let me tell you why. Because everybody's walking around afraid of saying something they know to be true for the betterment of the person they employ. Because they're fearful the person that needs to hear it isn't going to take it the right way and they're going to go and turn them into HR. Okay, that's a real reality. I've been through it in corporate America and that's why I don't have an HR department.
Speaker 3:Because if you're speaking the truth and you've created a culture where people can thrive and grow, because you hired the right person and you're telling them the truth, and because you're telling them the truth, and because you're telling them the truth, they know exactly where they stand. You can't be beat, aaron. The other thing I'm going to tell you when you tell someone the truth and you sit down and you have a face-to-face conversation with someone on your team. That's valuable. That's where the relationship begins. It begins with confrontation. John Maxwell wrote a book the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
Speaker 3:One of the laws is care enough to confront. Okay, well, as much as I want to tell people the truth and help make them better, you know what I want. I want the truth. I want people to point to me and tell me where I've fallen short. The guy I used to work for used to say don't make me feel good, make me money.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, what he meant by that is we got to embrace all the things that we're not doing right to make us better. Well, that means there's got to be truth told by the leadership to be able to carry out whatever task or vision that they have. And so telling the truth is very important. And in the society we live in, we don't even know what the truth is anymore, aaron, and it's sad. People are so lost.
Speaker 3:Well, you know what the truth is and you and I both know what it is. It scripturally based, that's our truth, right, and we can say what we want about the bible, but I can tell you this it's my truth and it's what we use to be able to carry out our mission. Um, and when we hire people, we're very clear, you know. We let them know we're, we're a conservative Christian company. We, we live out our faith in our business. We're not going to to you, but we hope the way we live out our daily walk is a sign to that, and I say we're not perfect but we're forgiven, amen. And so truth is important.
Speaker 3:The third thing, so, who we hire telling people the truth. And then number three is exercising discipline. Okay, proverb 312 says the Lord delights in discipline. Okay, and so if people choose to take action that's not in line with our culture and the way we operate our business, well, there's got to be a consequence for that right. We have to have order. If you have truth and discipline, you have order. And you know the beautiful thing of all this, aaron, let me tell you this is just.
Speaker 3:The most amazing piece is, when you have truth and order, you know what you have. You have a thriving culture because people are happy. They know where they stand. There's no longer any confusion on am I doing a good job? Am I doing a bad job? Well, they know because we told them. And now they have a purpose, they have energy around. What do you want me to do? I bet if you go and ask half the companies in America today hey, what does your company expect from you? I don't know that. Most people could tell them from you I don't know that most people could tell them.
Speaker 3:Can they actually tell you what's important as our company, what's your primary goal, what's the purpose? What type of interaction and feedback 360 feedback do you get from your leadership team? And I always say, if you work for a company and they're not telling you the truth, you should run. You should, because if they don't tell you the truth, then they don't really care about you. And that's the way I look at it. We care about people and every time I've ever said hey, you know what You're important to me. I need to tell you some things. Are you open to me giving you some feedback?
Speaker 3:that I know will help you. No one's ever told me no when I've asked that questionnaire. Every doesn't wake up in the morning going. I'm going to go and screw up as hard as I can. Today no one thinks that. They're thinking I want to do a good job. Most people just don't know how to do it.
Speaker 2:I believe that, marty, let me just I got to just say I believe that wholeheartedly. I'm like you. There's not a person that I know that doesn't want to do a good job. And if you present that information in the right way, with already what you're saying an established culture it's easy to assimilate it versus lying to me. Uh, our keynote speaker at convention this last year, dan oval lobby, who one day we've got to get dan into your restaurant because you and dan are just going to hit it off he runs an international ministry called branches worldwide. He said if you live off people's praise, you will die by their criticism. Think about what you just said. If you'll just be honest with people, then when you compliment them, they know that it's genuine, they know that it's truthful, that it's not a lie and that you're trying to help them, that you're trying to improve them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is true. But all of this, everything I just spoke to you about, goes back to the first thing who we hire, right. And so we have a system in place where we do a personality profile. It's called Culture Index. But I'm telling you, there's no way I could operate my business today if I didn't have that tool that tells me who I'm hiring.
Speaker 3:You know, god designed us all in such a way, right? I have my strengths and weaknesses, and so does everyone else, so we're trying to align strengths and weaknesses to fit our culture. So when we have to have all these conversations I'm telling you about, we know how they're going to respond to it, we know how we got to communicate it, and so that gives us such an advantage because, at the end of the day, we've got to protect the person, right? You know, and especially in today's world, with there being such a high level of sensitivity, uh, not everybody receives criticism. Well, you know. But if we've hired the right person and we've got a relationship and we've genuinely, they genuinely know we care about them. I find that it's, it's liberating. And everybody on my team, everybody, all my leadership, I've had a confrontation with them for something, I don't know what. But if I didn't, they wouldn't be where they are and our relationship wouldn't be as strong as it is if we hadn't had conflict, right?
Speaker 3:Ed Young did a message once and he talked about what was it? There's three things, it's the three C's there's change, conflict and then growth right. Anytime you make a change, there's going to be conflict and, as a result of the conflict, then there's going to be growth Right. And the growth could be the person gets better and becomes amazing, or they go away, but they're growing some way because of the change.
Speaker 1:And we're change agents.
Speaker 3:We're constantly making things better, changing the way we do business to make the experience more amazing for our customer, more amazing for our team. Those are the two things that drive our business, and if that's what we wake up thinking about every day, how can we make this experience amazing for our team? How do we make the experience amazing for our customers? Well, who's there, who's standing our way? But that's our mission, right, and so then we talk about that, and that gives us all a lot of energy and a lot of clarity, um, to do that, and then, more importantly, it gives our team a culture to be able to speak out to ways that can make us better. Not all the ideas were amazing, but the fact that we listen you is just as important as what they say, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, that's good stuff right there, the two things that you've shared. I don't know if you have you ever read Daniel Cole's book the Culture Code?
Speaker 3:I have not.
Speaker 2:Tom Ziegler told me I needed to read it. I understand why, by the way, it's everything you just said and what it was is they did an experiment with kindergartners and they gave them pipe cleaners, spaghetti, glue tape. They gave them all these things, told them to erect the tallest sculpture that could. You know, erect the tallest structure that you can. And these kindergartners just did this amazing job. Then they bring in adults, business leaders, doctors, teachers, engineers, and they could not beat what the kindergartners had done. And it goes back to what you just said. It's because they wouldn't be critical, they wouldn't say, hey, that's not going to work, because they were so guarded and they didn't want to hurt somebody's feelings.
Speaker 2:I always thought of the old saying. It said we enter this world as question marks, we leave this world as exclamation points. And I tell people, don't ever quit wondering, don't ever lose that imagination, that wonder, because if you do, you're becoming an exclamation point. Just keep being a question mark, keep striving to want to know more and then accept it. Don't be threatened by it. It's like you said Look at it as somebody's giving you an angle. Maybe you didn't even know, and that angle may create more margins for your business that you hadn't expected, totally. So I was thinking about that one. Then I also thought about the four stages of teams that teams go through. They go through four stages. I love this, by the way. I wrote it down Change, conflict growth, change, conflict growth. The way that I learned it was orientation, conflict resolution and mastery. And I took it back to when I coached little kids, little girls, soccer and they were all happy to be there Orientation first. But then when I told them what position they got to play, they got upset because that was conflict.
Speaker 2:I don't want to play this position and then, once they learned how to move the ball, they found resolution and then, as a result, they began to win games Mastery. And then you bring a new player into the game. New player comes onto the team. What happens? You go right back to orientation. You go right back to orientation. You go right back to conflict. You have to go right back to resolution. You've got to go right back through all of the different points of playing.
Speaker 3:You saw in them what they couldn't see in themselves. You put them in a place where you knew they were going to be better, and then, as a result of getting better, they became more confident. And when they become more confident. I mean you can do all kinds of stuff right. Then they've got to where you sound like mastery. Toward the end they became mastery because they had confidence in what you told them, because you put them in the right place right, not everybody's going to be a goalie in which you told them, because you put them in the right place right.
Speaker 2:Not everybody's going to be a goalie. Everybody's going to be a forward. Marty, some of the back story here on why we do this podcast is I'm a firm believer. You know, abraham Lincoln said I think it's a quote they attribute to Abraham Lincoln he said the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be philosophy of government in the next. Now, let that sink in the philosophy. Here is how we're going to govern here. Well, I tell people, if agriculture's taught me anything, if agriculture's taught me anything, it's taught me this If you want to know what the future is, grow it. You have to plant seeds, you have to nurture those seeds, you have to weed the garden, you have to take care of it, you have to keep the varmints out. You've got to grow that harvest. And then when you do, guess what? Then you're going to have to harvest it, you're going to have to share it, You're going to have to distribute it. Yeah, and that's the reason why we do this, by the way.
Speaker 3:Well, I love it and I love what you do. I love your example, aaron. You really do a great job providing a heartfelt hospitality. You're a great connector. You're so good at connecting other people. You've connected me with some amazing people and I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:But I just think you see value in people and I'm not surprised that you're where you are with the FFA, leading the state and you know, connecting people and pouring into these kids and at the end of the day, I've been so encouraged and so had so much fun talking with the kids that you bring to me here at Marty B's. You know just their level of professionalism, their curiosity. It's just so fun. They give me energy. You know when I'm around and so I I hope you'll keep doing that, uh, because I get a lot of joy. You're on the list, just so you know I mean okay, okay.
Speaker 2:So wonder what the future is, grow it. Well, you have to have seeds of greatness, and the reason we put this podcast together is we said look at all these incredible people that we know, the conversations we've had, the seeds of greatness that they've shared. I said I want to create a platform where we can go capture those. And so we created this podcast platform for this very purpose to have you tell us about who you hire honesty, about you know, making sure you're elevating people, that you're doing all of these incredible things to make organizations successful. And that's what today was about. I want people today in these classrooms, these teachers and our sponsors, to hear what you said and say you know what I'm going to put that you know, marty said something today that was pretty good. I'm going to plant that seed today and guess what? It may not grow for 10 years, but, just like you and I, it may be 10 years later.
Speaker 2:Somebody says you know, I remember, when I was in high school, that man with the cowboy hat on. I remember that guy giving a speech and I remember he said something and it kind of you know, it kind of came inspiration of where I'm at today. So, marty, before we wrap up here, you know you've got an audience. You've already shared so much, but I'm going to see if I can't dissect you down one more time. Think about this you now have an audience with every high school, every middle school kid in the United States right now. If you were to tell them here are three things that can make you successful, here are three things that can help you along life's journey, what would you tell them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say never underestimate the value of investing in yourself. You know, I didn't go to college and I would certainly encourage everyone to do that. Two of my daughters have already graduated. My son's a sophomore in high school but I've spent so much time investing in myself, reading great books, going to leadership conferences, and that's probably the biggest thing that I've done to help shape me into who I am, and that's probably the biggest thing that I've done to help shape me into who I am.
Speaker 3:One of my goals for 2024 is surround myself with high impact people. You know you'll be amazed what you can learn just by connecting with someone of influence, someone who's been highly successful, and ask them if you can go to coffee, buy their lunch, take them and take them and have coffee, whatever, or, even better, if they're pursuing something that you want to do, go tell them. You'll work for them for free. Just go be a sponge, right? Go be a sponge and learn from the people who are being impactful and people of influence in your community, and you'll oftentimes find most of those people are genuinely nice. They care, they want you to be successful, and then the last thing I would say is don't let anybody rob you of your dream.
Speaker 3:There's so many dream killers out there, and it can even be your family. Sometimes families kill your dreams. You know, if your dream isn't big enough that it doesn't scare you and make other people criticize it, then it's probably not big enough, right. But you know you got to start. You got to start small. I mean, marty b's, we started big, but I had remember I was doing it 27 years before I committed to doing what we did as big as we did.
Speaker 3:But yeah, invest in yourself, surround yourself with high impact people and then you know just be focused on what it is you want to do and don't let anybody you know tell you what you can and can't do. Right, I think you can do just about anything.
Speaker 2:You're not proving that, aaron marty, you have an incredible testimony and, um, god blessed you for a reason, and you're're not being selfish about it. You're willing to share that with others. You're saying there are no secrets here. I've been blessed. I want you to be blessed here's. Let me share with you how I've done that, thus planting seeds of greatness, thus helping us grow an incredible future.
Speaker 2:I always like to ask the kids do you know how many high schools are in Texas? And they always say I don't know. So there's over 3000 high schools in Texas. I said now, think about that. Every one of them have a graduating class. Somebody's getting out, looking for a job, scholarship or an opportunity. So my question to them is, I said what's your competitive edge? What separates you from everybody else?
Speaker 2:And I believe that those who might listen to this podcast might pick up something that separates them from somebody else those, like you said, that invest in themselves, that give themselves some competitive edge, the firm handshake, the yes or no sir, yes, ma'am, no ma'am little things could become the competitive edge that gets you through the door of opportunity. Success begets success. So if you can have success here, chances are you can create another opportunity. So everything that you shared today, marty, your testimony, your life journey, grounded in faith, inspired by action, you know the passion to empower others. All of those things combined, I believe, are an incredible recipe for success.
Speaker 2:I just want to tell you thank you. It's an honor to know you. I'm glad that my family invited me to eat at Marty B's. I'm glad I walked out there and talked to that sweaty cowboy working on a rope and dummy in front of Marty B's. As a result of that, like you said, marty, you have poured into our teachers, you've poured into our students, and now this platform even gives us a larger audience. You know, we always say that the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit. That's what you're doing, marty, and I just want to tell you thank you for that.
Speaker 3:Thank you. It's an honor, aaron, to spend time with you this morning and, more importantly, the kids you know that may hear the message. And you know, hey, none of us are perfect. We're just to be better. We're pursuing excellence every day and I think, if you have that mindset, be grateful. Pursue excellence, and usually excellence involves making other people around you better. That's what it's about. Be a model, be an example, be a great example.
Speaker 2:You're good. So many things that you share, marty. I mean, I, you know, I'm just sitting here reminiscing about all these incredible things that you know. I've done a lot of martial arts training and a lot of combative arts and a lot of things that we've done and my instructor.
Speaker 2:We have a very simple philosophy If you want to be the best, train with the best. And so what we do is we seek out the best people, not the black belt of a black belt of a black belt. We seek out the best people in these incredible arts to train with them. Because, if you want to be the best, train with the best. And so when you said that, go find mentors One of my board members who, by the way, is a big fan of yours since he came to your restaurant, cleo Franklin. Cleo's a big fan of yours. Now Cleo's always telling the kids get your own personal board of directors. Yeah, that's very good and so very similar to what you were saying go find those experts, go find those people that are the best, hang out with them and let them be your board of directors.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you become most like the five people you spend the most time with. Those five people are important.
Speaker 2:Well, I will throw a selfish plug in here. Ladies and gentlemen, I travel all over the state of Texas. I can tell you my favorite places, from the top of Texas to the tip of Texas, from West Texas and El Paso to East Texas, texarkana, beaumont, I've got them all over. And I got to tell you, if you're ever in the North Texas area, you need to experience Marty B's barbecue. You need to go and the live music. They even have men's Bible study groups. I mean, it is just a unique experience, the hospitality. Again, before I ever met Marty, I was already taken by the way I was treated. When I was there. I was also taken by the quality of the food. And Marty again, I say all that because it really revolves around a culture that's been created there and I just want to tell you thank you for what you've done and you're an example, you know. Obviously I would love to say that FFA did all that for you.
Speaker 2:I can't say that, but I can say it contributed 100%, and so to be able to share your story on this platform. Marty, we close with one last question, and you may have the most difficult time maybe answering this question than any guest I've ever had. You're going to understand why. When I say this, every guest gets a fun question at the end. Here's your fun question. All right, let me hear it. What is the best concert you've ever been to?
Speaker 3:oh god, this is gonna surprise you when I tell you, uh, probably metallica. I'm a, I'm an 80s kid man. I just and I grew up in the country and you know, and I'm, and I'm surrounded by country I listen mostly to country now, but there's, there's an energy and excitement around uh, metallica music that will just kind of get you energized and fired up. And you know, as they've evolved, you know they've really become more wholesome. I even took my son there they don't use profanity.
Speaker 3:They're very family-oriented because they have enjoyed their journey and see them come of age and mature. So I've just become a bigger fan, as they too have matured as a band and put on a great show.
Speaker 2:I took my son to see Metallica and we were the only two. We sat in a suite by ourselves, so my and I watched metallica. I didn't know all the lyrics, but I'm like you, I appreciate good music. I took it all in and I just want you to know that from now on, when I introduce you, I will have inter sandman playing, so as you walk in, I will have you walking into inter sandman great one.
Speaker 3:I love it, can't wait.
Speaker 2:All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today for another great episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. Like we say, if agriculture has taught us anything, it's taught us. If you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, to grow it means you got to plant the right seeds, you got to take care of them, you got to work at it, you got as Marty said today, you got to take action and then you got to harvest it. And when you harvest it, don't be selfish with it, share it, feed other people, grow a better future for all of us. Until until our paths cross again, everybody, go out and do something great for somebody. You're going to feel good about it. And guess what? When you do, you make our communities, our homes, our world a better place to live, work and raise our families. Marty, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 1:We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. This episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen agricultural science education so students can develop their potential for personal growth, career success and leadership in a global marketplace. Learn more at mytexasffaorg.