Dating Differently Podcast
Dating Differently Podcast
Minisode 3 - What is about Good Company
Looking for love and community in the modern world can feel like an uphill battle. But what if there was a place that offered a perfect balance between the impersonal nature of dating apps and the extravagance of expensive matchmakers? Join us as we reveal our exciting project, a unique community for singles created to fill this void. Grounded in genuine connections and personal growth, we've joined Valdon's matchmaking services and embarked on a compelling journey. One that saw us buying a house, not just any house, but a space designed to host meaningful gatherings and create lasting connections.
Welcome to The Mackreth. The Mackreth is about you and celebrating the small things in your life with just as much enthusiasm as the big things. Here's the thing: The Mackreth isn't just a house you can rent for parties, baby showers, intimate fundraising dinners, or bridal luncheons. It's a private retreat getaway for your leadership team. It's the statement wallpaper (you know, the one when you see it) that is the perfect backdrop for your music video or commercial. The swivel chairs in the noir room set the comfort and ease for your latest podcast guest, and it's the onsite parking for a dozen cars without any concern.
This house is truly what you need it to be. Honestly – that's a rarity. And we at The Mackreth want to help make your experience – regardless of what it is – one that leaves you wanting more. More time with your favorite people. More snaps with the camera and more recording time.
So, tune in, let us whisk you away, and introduce you to a world of genuine connections. Cheers to your next great experience.
Yeah. So, thinking through this endeavor, this project that we're trying to do, we're doing the project, what would be like the top three things you're looking for and the kind of people that we want to work with. So, before I answer, that question.
Speaker 2:Can we talk about what the project is that we're doing?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we could do that.
Speaker 2:Tell us about it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Valda and I have very different backgrounds. We are different people. He is a matchmaker We've gone into. I've asked him a lot of questions about that, because I also am just generally pretty curious about it. Okay, so we've already gone through how I met with you at the beginning of 2022 because I wanted a different result, so I had to do different things. I keep telling myself that because I'm still talking myself into this, as I think most people are when it comes to, I think, doing things that are just new and different and trying to stretch yourself, and so I recently bought a house. We are currently in the house now and in on January 7th 2022,.
Speaker 1:I closed on this house for the purpose of having a place to throw parties. I planned my brother and sister-in-law's wedding, a friend was looking for a place to have her 50th birthday party and just sort of like some things happened at the end of 2021. That really came to me having this realization of, hey, I could buy a house for the purpose of people being able to have parties. There's something about having a party in a home that is just so cozy and also exciting at the same time. I feel like the energy is better and I wanted to have a price point that people could rent the house. That would be achievable and encourage more people to celebrate big and small things, whether it's hey, it's a random Tuesday, let's have a family dinner, or let's have a friend's giving to hey.
Speaker 1:I had I got a book deal, let's have a publishing party and I come from a family that loves parties so much and we throw them as often as we can, and as part of that I wanted the house to be fully stocked. So when you rent the house you are not having to also rent flatware or glasses or dishware. It comes in your rental of the house, so you walk in and you have everything you need essentially, except for flowers and food. You can provide those things if you'd like.
Speaker 1:So all of that to say, I had this house to sort of set the scene. We met in January of 2022, and I was like, hey, I would like to find my person and the way I tell the stories, you're like, great, that's awesome. I got no one for you and I was like cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I love that Strangely validating and also sad. But I was like let's be friends. Yeah, let's be friends.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, let me add to that a little bit.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, rewrite my history, Go for it.
Speaker 2:You know, when I'm out and about, I'm always looking for great people and you came off as a great person right away. Thanks, I mean because we met at the City Club. We did, and I think you came in and got an old-fashioned and we started talking about drinks. Yes, that's what an old-fashioned was, and it was a whole thing. Yeah, Still is I do love that drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. But I can remember that interaction and I thought to myself. I can honestly say I thought to myself man, I'd like to know this lady because she seems like some good people.
Speaker 1:So to speak Some good people yeah and you know what.
Speaker 2:And shortly after that, I think, you told me about the house and I was jumping for joy on the inside about the house. But I was trying to contain my glee, so to speak, because I was holding in that whole idea of the social circle idea and I was looking for a place, like you said, that wasn't too big, wasn't too grand, too grand and all that stuff, cold, yeah. And I was just thinking, man, there's some things we could do to take over the world. And when you basically showed up as somebody that was interested in what I do and interested in being social and it just seemed like, man, we got to do something together. And that's when you and I started meeting on Saturday mornings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Start, but months passed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think I like the way this story is weaving in this way that I didn't even really notice until this moment when we're having this conversation. And I remember I was like, hey, let's have some coffee. Felden doesn't drink coffee, but I do, I drink a lot of coffee. And he was like sure, yeah, that sounds great. And I was like just hear me out on this idea before you say no. And so I basically pitched partnering on throwing singles parties, trying to find, or creating an atmosphere where people can find their people in real life. Because from my perspective, what was going on is you've got App World, which I think can largely be summed up as there's no difference between the apps anymore. They used to have a different approach and a different ethos, but they're pretty much all the same. I think post COVID, they are all the same. And then there's another matchmaking service that is rather expensive, like $9,000 for 12 dates and that's at a discount.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so I, being the person that I am, was like what if we are the middle ground? What if we create a community? Cause people wanna be around other people, right, they wanna be around good people.
Speaker 2:Quality people, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Whether it's to make friends or to find their person, whatever it is, they wanna be around good people who are striving to better themselves and to reach the next phase of wherever that is. And so I pitched having events here at the house and creating like a separate side part of your platform, of your CRM, that you use as a matchmaker and basically just using Valden's extensive knowledge and matchmaking to create some magic. Yeah, and that's sort of where we are. That's what brought us here today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Is to talk through. What does that really mean for people who are intrigued by the idea, a little tired of the swiping world Though I will say that I use swipe right, swipe left close the app, in everyday language, to talk about things I like, don't like and really don't like. Okay. And then that's sort of how I judge the demographic and the age group of people that I'm talking to is, if they laugh, then I'm like okay. Okay, let's test another joke. But I think people are tired of that. It's fatiguing.
Speaker 2:And frustrating.
Speaker 1:And frustrating, and I think there's something and you mentioned this earlier about matchmaking in general being a better use of your time, and I think that's what we wanna get across in this endeavor, in this project that we're building about good company is that it is a better use of your time. You're busy, you're trying to get stuff done, you're trying to better yourself, you have routines that you want to keep because they help you be productive, but you also want to spend your life with someone else that values similar things. Right, and so when we look at there's so much opportunity Raleigh is a great place to have that as a goal, a great target audience, and there's a whole bunch of research about how people post COVID and during COVID really spent a lot of time because they were by themselves, like figuring out how to be better people.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And defined by those people, whether that's they reread all of Harry Potter again or they and then watch the movies to go along with the books, or they read all of like the great 100 books of literature, or they themselves started a podcast because they were curious about something and their friends had nothing else to do, so they also joined in. It was just like there's an action component to chasing after good, and like defining what good is a whole different conversation. But whoever you are and whatever your good is, you're moving toward that direction and we wanted to be the solution for, and we will be the solution for, people who want to chase after what good is.
Speaker 2:Right, right, yeah, go. As we talk about good company, we should probably, I guess, break down the name. Yeah, go ahead, break the name down.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So what's the name?
Speaker 1:About. Good company is the name, and good company is something that you know when you're in it and you want to be a part of it. And we as a company, as a group, as a project, are about that concept and so we want to facilitate that environment for good company to be created and fostered and enhanced, whether it's by finding people, of new friends Because if you're going to be around good company, likely you're going to have a similar value system or it's finding your person and it really goes back to your vision of social circles. How can you put people who are similar and have similar mindsets, ways of viewing priorities in life, how can you put them in the same place? And we're saying that that place is gonna be the Macrith.
Speaker 2:The Macrith. So tell us about the Macrith, because that's the first time people have heard that word.
Speaker 1:Right. So this house that I talked about earlier is called the Macrith and it is a family name and we, being my family, has a family farm in Virginia and it was given to my grandfather by a man named Roy Macrith, and every time we go there and I've mentioned several times how much I love a good party, my family loves to host, but we also love what parties mean and it's a moment in time that's captured, that lives by itself. And when we go to our family farm in Virginia, which is right outside of Sherylotsville, we drive in the driveway and we leave all of our problems at the bottom, like when we make that turn and the like, you start to hear the car with the asphalt and the pebbles. You shift your mind into this place of rest and encouragement in a way that you didn't really know you needed.
Speaker 1:And so, pulling from that concept and a very important family member, roy Macrith, that's where I got the name the Macrith, because I wanted people to walk in and have and leave their responsibilities at the door and just enjoy being present and enjoy who they're around when they're at the Macrith, and so that's sort of the. That's the fast version of the house and the my desire for everyone who comes whether you're coming to a party that I am hosting, whether you are renting the house for your own party, whether you're using it for a professional purpose, but just that it be an escape from the normal patterns or from wherever you wanna escape from at that time, to just take an extra breath and relax. And I think that's so hard to do, and I wanna be able to create an environment where that is possible.