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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 49: Betting on the Blank Slate: Downtown Renaissance and Business Iteration with Ryan & Chad Whaley
Ever wonder what happens when two small-town dreamers return home with fresh eyes and big ideas? Ryan and Chad Whaley's journey from PR professionals to the owners of the vibrant Paddle Bar in Sandusky, Ohio reveals exactly what's possible when vision meets opportunity.
The Whaleys saw potential where others saw decay. After careers that took them to Colorado's ski resorts, they returned to their hometown with entrepreneurial fire and immediately recognized what many locals had overlooked – Sandusky's waterfront was a blank canvas full of possibility. "It took traveling and living elsewhere to see it," Ryan explains, describing the moment they stood on the shore looking at empty buildings and wondering why nobody was capitalizing on this stunning location.
Their entrepreneurial path wasn't straight – starting with a PR firm, then opening the Volstead Bar (a speakeasy with mysterious green lights indicating available seating), and finally creating the Paddle Bar, which itself morphed from an outdoor equipment store with a 32-foot climbing wall into a thriving waterfront establishment with Key West vibes. What makes their story particularly compelling is their willingness to pivot when opportunities presented themselves. As Chad puts it, "The bar kind of swallowed the rest of the shop," and they were smart enough to let it happen.
Behind their success lies intentional hospitality culture. From carrying specific beers that trigger vacation memories to ensuring that every customer receives immediate acknowledgment upon entering, they've created what sociologists call a "third place" where locals and tourists blend seamlessly. But don't let their casual vibe fool you – they've learned to become plumbers, electricians, and problem-solvers who'll show up at 3 AM to fix a sensor because "you can't run the next day if it's not fixed."
The brothers' approach to securing investment offers valuable lessons too. Rather than rigid business plans, they presented flexible options while demonstrating their adaptability. "Be yourself," Ryan advises potential entrepreneurs. "An investor is going to want to bet on you."
Check out the Paddle Bar next time you're in Sandusky – with its fresh-squeezed juice cocktails, relaxed atmosphere, and brothers who transformed not just a building but helped spark their hometown's renaissance. As Ryan says about Sandusky's revitalization, "We're only halfway up the hill, we're not even at the top yet" – and that's exactly what makes this journey worth following.
Guest Links:
https://www.facebook.com/PaddleBarSandusky
Main Street Reimagined:
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The Main Street Reimagined Podcast, Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqfkmF5bRH0od1d3iiYKs3oEn_gvMYk7N
Henry Development Group:
Facebook: facebook.com/henrydevelopmentgroup
Website: www.henrydevelopmentgroup.com
Developing News Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/33110524eb5c/developing-news
Luke Henry:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/luhenry
Facebook: facebook.com/luke.henry.148
#DowntownRevitalization #LocalBusiness #Entrepreneurship #GreenDoorMedia #VolsteadBar #PaddleBar #SnapshotsOfSuccess #SmallTownBigVision #RustBeltRising
I was in Austin, texas, about a year ago during the wintertime with my wife and I went into a barbecue place and there was a in the men's bathroom. It was set up like a disco in the bathroom Lights, ball, disco, ball right. And I thought, man, this is so cool, and I took a video of it and I sent it to Ryan and that was on Saturday night. By the time I got back on Tuesday, the bathroom was done like a disco here.
Speaker 2:Yes, by the time I got back, on Tuesday, the bathroom was done like a disco here. Yeah yeah, we actually recently got an award. What was it? The Best Bathroom Award, a flush above the rest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast, a show for people ready to turn visions into realities and ideas into businesses. Hey, I'm Luke Henry and each week, I lead conversations with Main Street Dreamers who took the leap to launch a business, renovate a building or start a movement, their ideas, their mindsets and their inspirations, as well as some of the highs and lows along the way. This is a place for dreamers, creators, developers and entrepreneurs to learn, share and be inspired to change your community through small business. Enjoy the show. Hey friends, luke Henry here, this is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast and we're excited to be once again on location here in Sandusky, ohio.
Speaker 3:This time we are at the Paddle Bar and if you are not watching on YouTube, you need to flip on over there and check out this cool space. We're just occupying a small corner of it here, but you can see a little bit of the stuff going on. Super cool. You can't fully appreciate it from the shot that we're in, but very coastal vibes here and a super cool place. I'm here with Ryan and Chad Whaley, the owners, and we are looking forward to a conversation about this business, their journey here, why Sandusky? And some of the cool things that are going on here. Thanks for being here. Guys, happy to be here. Absolutely, I'm looking forward to it here. So if folks have never been to Sandusky Ohio, they've not stumbled through the door of the paddle bar here. This is a unique place. Tell them what they're missing.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the paddle bar is. We're in our fifth season now and it is really cool. It's on the water and it is a mixture of, I would say, surfing Key West Florida with a little bit of snow skiing dropped in there too, because we lived in Colorado for a while. Big outdoor deck, live music during the week and it is a very mellow vibe, kind of thinking of beach bum style, and that's kind of the vibe here People love just kind of hanging out and spending an afternoon here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I would say we kind of like to think that it encompasses exactly what we're about, which is pretty much everything that he just said. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, without getting to the full story just yet, which we'll get into, but this has not always been entirely the paddle bar. This started out as kind of another concept and is kind of morphed over time, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very interesting. You know, one of the things we've learned about business is you know, you have to be able to pivot, and Chad and I kind of came up with this idea. I don't know how far you want me to get into the past, but we ran a PR agency just the two of us here in Sandusky in the past, and we were taking a lunch break and this building was across the street and vacant and we're playing a little Frisbee in the park and I don't know if it was me or Chad, but someone said do you remember?
Speaker 1:I don't remember it was, it was, I think it was together we saw. We kind of saw it at the same time. That'd be a cool outdoor store like an REI.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh. So we did that. We turned it into a paddle and climb. I had a climbing wall in here and everything else. But then, uh, during covid, uh, we got the idea to kind of add a bar, because it has this beautiful deck and there's like this start thinking about the. You know, the business was kayaks and things like that, but we're like we're on the water, like um, and so, uh, that happened during covid and since then, uh, the bar kind of swallowed the rest of the shop and although, although we do some retail now, we still have some stuff, some sunglasses and things, it is more the paddle bar than it is paddle and climbing.
Speaker 1:In fact, and it was kind of a drawn-out process, because the climbing wall that he referred to was there until two years ago, yeah, and that was kind of the last piece of the climbing shop even though we still sell some.
Speaker 3:How big was it? 32 feet 32 feet 32 feet.
Speaker 1:They had to bring a crane to take it out of here and that was a whole thing in itself, but it was uh. The cool thing is, too is it's still in the area. It's over at goofy golf now, so people can still use it. Yeah, yeah super cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I uh. I mean, I'm just imagining how that conversation went exactly. You know, you guys are kind of throwing the frisbee. You're like like, yeah, what about this? And one thing led to another. And who said we should have a 32 foot climbing wall?
Speaker 2:That was just one of the sticks of the idea. You know, like let's, and we built an Airbnb above the bar and that's been there since the beginning, and the idea was like, well, why don't we put a climbing wall right through the middle of it? It would be the only Airbnb in the world with a climbing wall in it, and so that's that's kind of how it happened. And you know, we both come from marketing and you know PR background, so you know we're always looking for something to be a little a little, a little bit of a shining light.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got to give Ryan the credit for that, cause it's always when we're ever, whenever we're talking about something kind of pie in the sky idea like, hey, we should do this, it's always him that actually does it. He goes. No, you know what? Okay, that's in motion already. We're going Right.
Speaker 2:Luckily I can talk Chad into the most of the most of the crazy ideas, For sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I love that because, yeah, lots of people have big ideas, crazy ideas, but it's, you know, it takes a special someone or you know pair of someone's to really put them into motion, which is why I wanted to sit down and talk with you guys. So, I mean, it's just that type of activity that lets me know that you're my people and that you like to dream and do cool things.
Speaker 1:You know what's funny? Just a tiny little story like branch off. That just encapsulates it perfectly. I was in Austin, texas, about a year ago during the wintertime with my wife and I went into a barbecue barbecue place and there was a in the men's bathroom. It was set up like a disco in the bathroom lights, ball, disco, ball right. And I thought, man, this is so cool, and I took a video of it and I sent it to Ryan and that was on Saturday night. By the time I got back on Tuesday the bathroom was done like a disco here.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we actually recently got an award. What was it? The Best Bathroom Award, A flush above the rest.
Speaker 1:I believe and now there's plenty of puns there, but I don't know it's probably a G-rated, so we're not going to say Wow. So that kind of just says it all. I love it.
Speaker 3:I love it A flush above the rest. I'm surprised you don't have that painted on the side of the building.
Speaker 2:Don't give me the idea.
Speaker 3:That's right, okay well, you've got tomorrow, so, uh, we'll get going on so. So I want to, you know, rewind a little bit before that even. I mean, we got a lot of ground to cover. But you know, before there was the paddle bar, I know that there was, you know, activity here in Sandusky Tell us a little bit about. Did you grow up here locally and why Sandusky? What got you from? You mentioned living in Colorado PR background. You know what has led to some of the businesses and different ventures and this really winding road that's taken you on a lot of different.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we both grew up here, spent a lot of time here, but both after college or after college for him I kind of played around for a while and then after college. But we both ended up out west. But certainly, like I said, ties to Sandusky. Our parents are here, our grandparents are here and there was always an idea that probably someday we would come back. Chad spent time out west as a ski patroller at Breckenridge. I kind of was climbing the corporate ladder and ended up becoming the PR director for Keystone Resort after working PR in Breckenridge and what a great experience. God love Colorado. So many great ideas of the different places we've been out there.
Speaker 2:But there was enough times coming back and visiting that family where we started to look at Sandusky. And then Sandusky was a quiet, small town and not a whole lot happening, a lot of empty buildings, things like that. But when you're standing on the shore and I think it took traveling and living elsewhere to see it by growing up here I didn't see it until I left and came back and seeing and just standing on the water and going, why are? Why is this? Why is there nobody here? Like, what are we doing here? So, so that was. That was a uh uh. You know, aside from coming back to to be around family, that was a good motivator. Like this is a blank slate here. What can we do? Um, and so we came back with intention and we opened green door media works, which was our PR firm, and Chad was a really good writer, so it wasn't hard to talk him into coming back and helping out with the business and then eventually, here we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, once again. He kind of got the ball rolling because he called me one day. He's like hey, this PR firm is getting a little too big for me to handle by myself. What do you think about coming back? And, like he said, it wasn't that hard to talk me into it because I enjoyed it. And I talked him into working for free, for like three months, so that was awesome.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, great sales background. Obviously right Pay him in craft beer.
Speaker 1:That's right, we'll work for beer. It worked for three months. It got us going, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I mean you kind of skipped this a little bit, but I don't want to glaze over the fact that that's a fairly significant leap from going and working in a corporate environment to coming back starting a small business. I mean, some people have that dream or that idea for years and I mean, you know, you just kind of mentioned it with a comma in the middle, but I mean that's, you know, a pretty big deal to make that leap.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was. I mean, there was definitely some due diligence done. You know I did. Before I took the full leap. I met with some folks back here potential clients and things like that, with the PR firm. So I knew there was going to be some income and and and. Then, you know, but I will say, at that time I was in my I want to say, early thirties, late twenties no, not, you know, just able to move, you know, be able to do a lot of things. Um, and then, um, we also opened, uh, volstead bar, uh, which is a little speakeasy bar across the street that's been around for 12 years, so that kind of happened right around the green door, media works time. So that was a good teacher as well. To move on to things like this, yeah, um, but the um, the uh, the risk portion was, uh, you know it's thought out out, but it's also like, okay, well, if it doesn't work, I guess we're going to do something else, although now I don't know that I could ever work for anybody again.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah, I think I think, too, a lot of it stems from our parents were always good about kind of letting us do our own thing growing up and even after college. You know, I you as well, at different time than I did, but I said I graduated college and said, hey guys, I'm going to pack all my stuff up in a car and drive out west. Do you have a job? No, do you have a place to live? Not yet, but I got about 900 bucks. We'll make this thing work. Yeah, and so you know, when you're talking about the risk portion of it, I think we were kind of set up for that in a way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we're both also the type of guys that would not so much anymore, but no problem. Jumping off a cliff on snow skis, no problem. So those are sort of like those kind of sports probably.
Speaker 3:So I think there's a tie-in, some transferable risk tolerance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Transferable. That's a good way to put it. Same thing with the idea of someone who's like, yeah, I'll move there, I way to put it.
Speaker 3:Same thing with the idea of someone who's like yeah, I'll move there, for I don't care if I don't have any money or a place to stay, I'll figure it out. I think there's definitely a tie there, yeah, yeah. So so you move back and have the, the, the PR firm. You've got some clients. It sounds like you hit the ground running. What kinds of work were you doing? I mean, what kind of clients were you working for?
Speaker 2:It was all locally, it was Lake Erie, shores and Islands, miller, boatline, and I did work for a PR agency for a short time before I started my own and it's funny I did. I'll be honest, I kind of went into that agency knowing I wasn't going to last there forever because I just I know I wasn't the agency type, but it was, it was. It was once again. It was like I did that for a reason because I wanted to learn how agency life worked, because I came from a corporate PR job, which was very different than dealing with multiple clients. I worked. I just had to make sure everybody knew it snowed and so, yeah, and so it was all tourism based and we probably unfairly focused a lot on Sandusky because we love Sandusky and we had, we just wanted, we just just felt like this needs to be known. So we had to focus a lot on Erie, iowa County, which we did A lot of love for, put-in-bay and Kelly's Island, but there was always a Sandusky piece in there.
Speaker 1:You were always sneaking the journalists into all the places that we liked in Sandusky when they came into town. There you go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so really, even from that standpoint, you believed in the renaissance of Sandusky and were kind of like starting to push that forward at that time, and that was before you really had the other businesses that kind of followed behind.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know what else too. It was made a little bit easier when we came back. There were a few businesses that were already kind of popping up and a couple of guys and girls who were doing things already, and that kind of it kind of popping up and a couple of guys and girls who were doing things already, and that kind of it kind of got the spark. It sparked it a little easier because you're looking at it and going, man, this little French restaurant we used to live, called Zinc, down there started and we came back and we ate there for the first time. I remember going, man, this is so cool, this is perfect for this little for this town, and that kind of helped get the spark going too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, town yeah, and it kind of kind of helped get the spark going. Yeah, yeah, there, yeah, there was a good group of you know, we've been back for about 15 years. There was a good group of entrepreneurs and it was a small group I'm talking three or four people, yeah. That all kind of came together within the within a couple years and there was some good leadership with the city as well. That came in. Um, so, boy, it was like kind of like lighting in a bottle there for a while, um with sandusky, and it's interesting to watch the progression. Now it's like how can I get involved in Sandusky? And it's like, well, you know, now it's a little harder because it's not just a bunch of empty buildings anymore. Right, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I get that and I've been, you know, having been around town for a few months and you know, just talking to people and learning I mean I just had the interview that our prior podcast here was McKenzie, which is Brian's wife, and then Eric Woopser from Greater Sandusky Partnership talking about. You know, they're really telling the same story, you know, kind of from a different perspective, that around that time there's just you's just some different people, some passion, some vision and the pieces are slowly kind of starting to fall into place and it sounds like you were very much part of that. And so going from the PR firm to the Volstead Bar, which was small and is still small, I mean still kind of a leap to say like, hey, we want to go now into a different industry, but still with our roots here in sandusky.
Speaker 2:Tell me about that process so that was, um, you know, that was a partnership between a few of us, um and uh, it was a. It was, uh, the nice thing about volstead bar it was, it is. It was a small. It was a calculated risk. It's a small 24-seat bar. Pr firm was above it. The building had other revenue, but, that being said, it was like, okay, if this is going to work, this could be amazing, but if it doesn't, yes, we're going to lose money, no doubt. Let me just say something else. But we were already feeling good about the PR firm, feeling good about some other things, but Volstead Bar is interesting because it turned out to be. I mean, this bar is 12 years old, yeah, and it seats 24 people and there is a cult-like following to that place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Now I hear there's something like with the lights above the door. Are we allowed to talk about this publicly? We can talk about this publicly.
Speaker 2:Okay, we might have to put a disclaimer in there, that's right. But the lights. So there's five green lights above the door and if the lights are green, five green lights, that means there's five or more seats available inside the bar. Okay, two green lights, two seats. If those lights are red, it'll be a single red light. Seats aren't available. You're not allowed in Because there's no standing room in there. There's no standing room, yeah, and so standing room in there.
Speaker 3:There's no standing room, yeah, um and so, yeah, on a friday night, saturday night, you'll, you'll see the old red light once in a while, yeah. And so I mean this is really fascinating, because it's like you're, you're starting this, there's very little else going on. And I mean, you know, yes, it's a small place, but you've still got to attract up to 24 people there on, you know, any given night. So what did that look like as you were going?
Speaker 1:It's funny. Those times were wild. Now that I think back on them, or occasionally because we were. He was getting clients, keeping clients happy, I was writing stories, trying to bring in journalists, all of that stuff. And then at 3 o'clock 3.30, we'd stop that One of us would go downstairs and all of a sudden open a bar, open the new bar.
Speaker 3:So it was, you're working, I mean, you're bartender one and two.
Speaker 1:Yep, bartender, one and two, and at the same time you're doing social media for the bar, like you said, trying to get people in, coming up with new drinks, messing with the menu. So that first year and a half of Volstead Bar was pretty wild. There was not a whole lot else besides being in that building.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was cool because you were able to bring all different media into it. And the cool thing about Volstead Bar that was interesting though was like was like okay, it's a speakeasy so we can't talk about it.
Speaker 3:We have to market it, right, right, so you can't, you're not gonna, right, you want to keep it too secret right.
Speaker 2:So you know it was interesting to do that. So we did, uh, embrace social media a lot and of course that was a little different times than now. That was, you know, we're talking Facebook, instagram and that was about it Maybe Twitter at that point. You know we focused heavily on SEO and things like that, but the bar never had a phone number so you could not call the bar.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's yeah so interesting and I mean, and it's so small, I mean you're limited. It's not like you were having bands playing or trivia nights, it was pretty much just the ambiance was what people were coming for. Yep, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:And no TVs. So it was a very different vibe that I think people sought out and eventually it wasn't just locals, it was people from out of town or stopping by. People standing out from the building trying to figure out how to get in was one of the greatest things. I mean you would see them walk by the door five or six times where they figured out or before they got that. You know the guts enough to, because it's a little intimidating. You walk up. There's no sign, there's just this green light right and then you open the.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could see that light bulb go off and they finally went in. Oh shoot, yeah, I'm in the right place.
Speaker 2:And that was a great marketing piece, because then they're telling their friends.
Speaker 1:And speakeasies were starting to gain traction around the country.
Speaker 2:Really, I'd say we were probably one of the first smaller town speakeasies back then. If you wanted to go find a speakeasy, you're in a big city, you're in New York, you're in Chicago and now I think you see them all over the place and it's been a cool movement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, and how do you think that that played into those early days of progress and development in Sandusky?
Speaker 2:I think it showed what could be done. This part of town at that point in time and there's some lore around the building there were murders in it and all kinds of stuff, but that's a long time ago it was a brothel. It was a brothel, but this part of town was kind of a. You know, this building that we're in now was empty, falling in on itself. Most of the buildings around us were in disarray, and so it was kind of considered like this, like they're going to open a high-end speakeasy bar in the part of town where nobody's at. Of course I'm like, yeah, nobody's at.
Speaker 3:That's when we're going to make people there.
Speaker 2:And so I think that's kind of it was a good boost for everybody. And now we're standing in this.
Speaker 1:You know we're in the same location and within two blocks there's, uh, five different venues yeah, I think it's cool because it hinted at what was to come, because it showed that people had an appetite for, for do things and new experiences and then, like you said, that just kind of kind of uh dominoed from there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and then uh, yeah, and then obviously you mean you told the story of how this kind of came to be and then uh evolved a little bit over a few year period and uh, and here you are today, uh, so going into busy season. So I mean this you know, I've seen, uh pictures from this place being pretty popping, uh, you know, on on nice evenings in the summer here. But you've got to manage the ebbs and flows of tourism-driven folks and so I mean how are you doing that driving traffic, or how do you manage the business in some of those shoulder seasons or off seasons? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:You know, I've always said that, um, you know, with this bar, um, I also I'm involved in, I own a little motel. Um, you know, you really have to build your business based on memorial day through labor day and uh, here anyway, and if you're not doing that, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna struggle because, let's face it, there's just not a whole lot going on in february. That being said, that doesn't mean there won't be. I mean it's already getting busier around the shoulder. Seasons are busier now than they ever were. Um, but, uh, you know, like, tell people the beauty of what we can do here. We attract people in the summertime and it's such a busy bar. The locals all get their bar back in the in the winter time right and it's a great place, a lot of, a lot of.
Speaker 2:We got so many regulars in such a good, such a cool place. So I think that it's that, um, it's that balance of of understanding that it's going to be go time in the summer and and you know you're not, you're not getting a whole lot of sleep, um, uh, but uh, you know it, it, it, it keeps us alive in the wintertime.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, making hay while the sun's shining I mean, I was thinking about it, yeah, exactly. So I mean, how does that, uh, how do you balance? You know you want to be a great place for locals but also be welcoming to the tourists. I mean, is that ever attention that you have to kind of manage with staff or your yourselves at all?
Speaker 1:You know, luckily, luckily, it's it. The balance has been, has been perfect.
Speaker 1:Honestly, and maybe because we have such good and and friendly regulars, maybe maybe that's, maybe that's why, but um, it's like ryan said, it's a nice balance. On the the weekdays, I think, a lot of the, a lot of the, the locals who come in kind of get their fill and then kind of give way a little bit to the weekend tourists, um, but there's a balance. I mean, on any given night you'll come in here and see somebody from pittsburgh or toronto or wherever and then also see the you know the folks from down the street. So it really hasn't been a problem.
Speaker 2:No, and I think the locals here, for the most part are are wildly welcoming and, uh, you know I, paddle bar has become kind of a third place for a lot of people. I'm, you know, we know that term is like you know, your, your home, your work, and then where else are you at? And paddle bar is going to become that third place and I feel like someone new comes in here and the locals are going to tell them where to eat, where to go, what to do, where to stay, all that good stuff, and they like it. They're proud of their town, proud of their community, and I think this is the place where they convey that.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say that's one of the things I probably am most proud of at this place is how we've, along with our locals and everybody in town, have cultivated that kind of sense of welcome and openness. It's just, it's incredible, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that it has to be a. There has to be a level of intention around, like building the hospitality, the culture, and maybe you guys just do it kind of naturally, Don't think about it. But you know, maybe I can try to kind of stimulate a little bit of thought with you, to think like, how did you create that to where you have that regular following and where people are coming back time and time again? That doesn't just naturally happen. You know you're not the only bar in town, clearly, you know. So what do you think that has been kind of the recipe for you guys to? To make sure that people are really coming and coming back and feeling welcome and just you know then they're being welcoming. You know that whole thing you described.
Speaker 1:You know, I would say I mean number one. We have, and we've gotten extremely lucky with our staff. It's huge. Now, part of that is how we train them Both. Both Ryan and I have, I mean at this point, a ton of experience, not only behind a bar, but just tourism and PR and all that stuff in general. And you know, the first thing we say to anybody who works here is, quite, quite simply, if somebody walks in the door, smile, say hi and just welcome them. And it sounds simple, but it really goes a long way. I mean, I spent 10 years working over at Put-In-Bay behind a bar over there in the summertime, so I had a lot of experience with it and that's really. It sounds quite simple, just be friendly, but it goes a long way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think one of the things I always say to staff and if you ever go into a place bar, restaurant, whatever and you're not acknowledged because they're too busy or whatever, you automatically start, you're negative right away. So that's one thing. You know, we get busy here, they'll be lying out the door, but we're hey, we'll be with you, whatever. Just simple things like that make a difference. But I do think that we also kind of create a vibe that is a very we like to make people think that they're kind of going on vacation.
Speaker 2:I mean even small things like that. We'll carry certain beers that you won't find at most bars in Ohio, like Carib or El Presidente from Jamaica Republic. So it's all these places where people are like, oh, I had that when I was in Cancun, and then they're drinking and then they're talking about the vacation they made in Cancun, and it all happened at Paddle Bar locally, and so that's something that stimulates them.
Speaker 3:They bring all those positive associations now and linking it to your experience. Exactly, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's little things, you're right, and just the environment, bright colors, doors open, garage door open, and you know, hey, can you get me this for next week as a? Can you start carrying this? You know what they come in next week and we're carrying it. That's exactly right. Yep, yeah.
Speaker 3:I love that Really cool. So, something we haven't talked about, and again, you know, you guys make this, you know, sound so easy and simple, and those of us that have done you know, businesses and projects know that it's not. But we did work in PR. Yeah Well, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 2:It's like no problem, that's a good one, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3:So, but you know you haven't mentioned the kind of development piece of these buildings. So you own both of the buildings, yeah Right, so you've also done the development, the construction, and these are not small things. You know if this building was in really rough shape when you took it over, uh, there was significant work that needed to be done. Structural work, it appears. Uh, you know, bringing in a huge climbing wall, uh, let's not forget that and just all of the pieces that go into it. I mean, I see a sprinkler system like these are not inexpensive, no, not complex. So tell us a little bit about the learning curve on that and just how you also took the leap on that.
Speaker 2:Well, a ton of learning curve. Obviously, the Volstead doing that first helped smaller project but learned a lot. Didn't need a sprinkler system there, by the way, thankfully, because then we know how much those cost. But so with this we did bring in a partner, a major investor, and we struck up basically a deal where we had some time to put this thing together and then we bought it from him or bought the building from his group. So that gave us some time to kind of figure out, prove it, make sure it would work and was able to bring in some money. This was an expensive building and then get the business running to the point where we felt comfortable going okay, we'll sign the contract, we own the place, it's our responsibility now. So that was kind of how we were able to do that. But yeah, this building that we're in now the paddle bar building was kind of falling on itself. We had a nice pool downstairs and by pool I mean, there was about three foot of dirty water down there that hasn't been touched in how many years.
Speaker 2:And we did add the Airbnb. That was another thought. It's like, okay, well, here's what I could do from an Airbnb. So here's a little backup plan as we get the bar and things roll, and Airbnb. You know, this is a very busy year in the summer, so we have to take advantage of that. And yeah, I mean I remember going up on the roof of the building when we were first doing construction and there's like a brick the best way to describe it on audio would be it's just a brick wall from the building that kind of covers the side of it and I could put my hand on top of it and the whole thing would just move back and forth. Well, this isn't good. So the building now is basically, if there's ever a tornado or if we have hurricanes in the north someday, this is the place to be, because it is an iron.
Speaker 3:It's not going anywhere. I see significant structural steel around here, all the way around the perimeter. It looks like it's basically completely rebuilt, reinforced.
Speaker 2:We had to do that and we had to do some bonuses because of the climbing wall and because of adding a story to it. It's good, it's worked out and and that was one of those things where you know you can plan and plan and plan um, you can always be ready to to move, but that plan uh did work pretty well, the kind of progression of how we were going to do things. That being said, the outdoor shop was great, but the outdoor shop wasn't drawing enough to be able to do it forever. So we're like what else can we do? The bar started out as a small idea and then it expanded.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and I mean, was that a difficult decision to make that pivot? There's always this tension with certain concepts where it's like well, on the one hand, maybe we haven't given it enough time, Maybe we haven't given it the right effort.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's just getting ready to take off, versus let's cut date and go a totally different direction. Well, we did it in a scripted way because we we didn't didn't end the the the outdoor shop first, it was just the bar and just not where we're sitting this. Well, this used to be the cat. Where we're sitting is is where we cashed out, you know climbers and people that were buying Patagonia. So we started the bar smaller, so we were having kind of two revenue streams and that actually would have worked just fine. But we have more fun running the bar.
Speaker 2:So, what do you think?
Speaker 1:Chad. No, that's exactly it. That's exactly it. Yeah, the transition it's like I think I alluded to it earlier. It didn't happen kind of right away. It happened over time and, like I said, only two years ago, the last I don't want to say the last piece of paddle and climb left because it's still here, but the last, really the last piece of that business took off two years ago, or you mean the? Climbing the climbing wall.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, so kind of back. You know, if you're, if you're willing to, to share a little. You know, yeah, so kind of back if you're willing to share a little more in the kind of strategy and tactics of making this project come together. There's a lot of folks that listen that are maybe considering projects. Maybe they've got a great idea, like something they're really passionate about, they're confident it will work, but they don't have the capital to put in themselves. They don't have the capital to put in themselves or they don't have the bank ability to go to a traditional lender and say, hey, will you loan me a million dollars or whatever it's going to take to do a little more significant project? Your strategy was really effective where you're able to find an investor and then get things going to, where you could either then ask somebody to hold a seller note or go to a bank and say, hey, this is a proven concept. It's no longer just a dream and banks like not having to guess.
Speaker 3:They don't like risk and they want to know that something's a proven concept, want to see the numbers. So often people think that just because they've got an idea that there's a bank out there that's going to lend to them and maybe there is, but they're going to have to do a lot to prove that the bank's not going to lose their money. So your approach was really effective. I mean, is there anything else more you would share there in terms of you know, how do you find that individual? How did you convince someone else to buy into this idea, to make it something that they could get on board and excited about?
Speaker 2:A lot of it was lucky enough to be introduced to some folks that wanted to be involved and as much as you can. It was a lot of legwork, a lot of looking at other concepts like this and I say I'm always 50-50 when it comes to business plans. Did I write one? Yes, Do I hate them? Yes, Just, you know, I was able to say, okay, this is what we think is going to work, but understand that this is not concrete and I know banks don't want to hear that.
Speaker 2:But those investors types that you talk about they tend to. They're in the same boat you are. They're usually entrepreneurs that usually got there somehow, and so we showed different options and different things that we could do and was able to convince them. But I would say a lot of it was just to keep looking around, keep trying different things. Lucky enough to kind of have a proven concept. I would always go with a backup plan too, Like, okay, if this doesn't work, what's this? I also always try to figure out things as conservatively as possible, so this is the minimum we need to make, this is what I expect we're going to do, and if we fall somewhere in the middle, wow, we're all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he's always been really good at putting much better than me about putting putting people together. I think that's what you're really good at. It's, it's, it's, it was. I mean, you've done it multiple times at this point, but, yeah, I agree with you it's. I think part of it too is also when you find that person that is willing to invest, it's also you have to be willing to. I don't want to say, you know, take on some of their ideas too, because originally oh yeah, be flexible.
Speaker 1:Originally, the climbing wall was not part of our plan. Yeah, that was. It really wasn't part of our idea. We wanted almost more shop focused and kayak focused rentals and whatnot.
Speaker 2:And then we took on the climbing wall because the investor well, it was our mistake, cause we well, I don't want to call it a mistake.
Speaker 3:We love the climb. Well, but like when they like.
Speaker 2:We talked about a climbing wall at one point and then they got excited about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then because we were like because we thought marketing idea.
Speaker 2:But then we started looking at pricing and climbing walls and stuff. And we're like wait a minute, we're going to slip and slide in there instead. And so then, once they got excited about it, we were like, well, we're doing a climbing wall Once again. The.
Speaker 1:PR thing. Why did we bring that up? The PR. Thing again.
Speaker 2:It was great, it worked. But, yes, your big project is your idea and your dream and your baby. But if you are going to take on investors, if that's the move, you need to go. Understand that they're going to want to have input as well. You've got to be manageable, and you do have to.
Speaker 3:You know, relationships matter, yeah yeah, yeah, I think that's some excellent advice. You know, being flexible to their ideas. Relationships matter and I think that, in the case of an investor versus a bank, banks are very much. You know, it's about the numbers what's the DSCR? You know what are some of the ratios and metrics, whereas an investor they're oftentimes, I think, betting on the jockey as much as the horse if you will.
Speaker 3:So you know, I think that obviously you also made a great impression from the standpoint of like hey, we've done business before, we've got a great work ethic. We don't just work nine to five. You know like we're going to figure out a way to make this work, and you did. You know, especially as push came to shove, things needed to pivot a little bit and you were able to make that change. So it's interesting the point you made about the business plan. I mean, it played out clearly in this case where it's like hey, we had a great plan, but you know what, you know, the the market kind of dictated otherwise and we needed to follow that instead of just being rigid with the plan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's something. Um, you know it's funny cause we kind of switched things over. The bar happened right as the time we started to talk about buying a place and we felt the bar, so that was even a little bit of a risk. The bar was starting to show some potential and I'm like we're gonna buy it. That's where chad goes, dude.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was like oh, do you know how much this is gonna?
Speaker 1:cost what are we doing?
Speaker 2:um, but um. So you know it happened. You know and and that was the great thing about you know the uh, uh kind of it did it did kind of match the plan and we did leave that freedom for us to be able to pivot. That's another thought, another thing to think about make sure that ability is there. And but you did make a point a lot of times, if you have a good relationship with an investor, you are the you know, you're, you're, you are the jockey and and I have found that it gets easier. I'm working on another project now and it's amazing. You know, 15 years ago I'm like an investor, how do I, even what do I? And then, once you do something, then you have people just coming out of the woodwork and they're like, oh, we want to invest with you. And now you need to get to the point where you're like this might not be a good idea, this might not be the right person.
Speaker 3:So, once again, relationships matter. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean that's great that you've been able to see it full circle. I mean, would you have specific advice for anyone that's out looking for an investor, as you were initially, and then also the other side of that, which is, you know, if somebody has multiple offers like, how do you find alignment with the?
Speaker 2:right investor. You know honestly it's going to sound kind of silly, but be yourself.
Speaker 2:Don't try to sell it like a guy who's going door-to-door selling siding or something. Yes, you are selling your product, you are selling your thing, but be who you are, because an investor is going to want to bet on you, like we've been saying, and I think it's important to show that side of you. And then, as far as when you get down the road, there is a bit of a gut feeling that I'm just like I. This person seems great. We want, we want to work together, yeah, and and then also, you know, dig into them. What have they done? How did they become successful? Yeah, they love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean just like people have seen, you know, on Shark Tank or shows like that. It's like sometimes you need more than just their money. You know sometimes, you know, maybe you are looking for some feedback, some business advice. You know if they've been successful in real estate or construction or small business. You know if they've got ideas, perhaps that's as valuable as their investment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what else that we have. I mean, you touched on it a little bit. The relationship building is huge. I think people probably underestimate how big just going out and having dinner with people, having a beer with somebody, having a coffee with somebody and that came about in the PR world. You know that's a huge part of that game is just going out and figuring out and learning who these people are. And the more you do that I mean I don't want to say it's a numbers game, but kind of you just start talking to people and meeting people and learning what they're about.
Speaker 2:Taking that back to kind of the area and the small town. I know that this is a lot of what your podcast is focused on Getting the investors excited about this area, that's you sell that, then you can start to sell your business too. That's so, chad, that's a good point showing them the area, getting excited. They're like I should be here, and that's arguably what you know what a tourism bureau wants to do. That's what mckenzie and eric that you talked to earlier want to do. Like, let's sell this place in a way that someone might come here and be a tourist and then maybe eventually buy a house, then may eventually start a business or maybe invest, and so I think that that's we're all trying to really do the same thing. It's just a different way of getting there. Yeah, the enthusiasm just radiates.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, agreed yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I mean it's. It's clearly been at work in the last 12 to 15 years, as you've described, and has continued to grow. I mean you've been the front row seat here for seeing the progress of the community and still more runway to go. So, as you kind of look out to the future, what are some things that you're excited as you look around the community of Sandusky and beyond that's happening that you're excited to see come together?
Speaker 1:You know, and this is just a small example, but today, actually, coming down here for this podcast, I was driving down the recently redone Columbus Ave project and they're stringing the. I've got a soft spot, maybe because my wife but for lights strung across streets, Right, yes, and I was just. I just looked up in my car and I actually got out my phone and took a little Snapchat to send to my wife because I was like man, even this far along, I'm still seeing things in town or seeing things done and I'm going. This is incredible, you know, and that stuff just keeps happening. I feel like yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:the Columbus Avenue is a great example. You know, sandusky is now getting a rec path that will eventually, with enough push, I hope, you know basically connect multiple counties and go along the lakeshore. You know, with enough push, I hope, basically connect multiple counties and go along the lakeshore. To see new businesses come here and start up is awesome. One of the things that I get worried about sometimes is sometimes you hear people oh, the winds are in our back. No, it's not.
Speaker 2:I like to compare it to an analogy of being on a roller coaster over at Cedar Point. We're only halfway up the hill, we're not going down, we're not even at the top yet and and I and maybe that's, maybe that's just like kind of my nature I've talked to, uh, listen to a lot of podcasts, talk to other, uh, business owners and stuff, and, like you know, I'm talking to people. Like you know, these guys have made it in my mind like they're. They're. Like you know, we bought an island but I'm still worried my business won't work. So maybe that is up to it, but I think Sandusky's got a lot of potential and we're just starting. You look at other cities and once again, that goes back to being able to travel and other places, and I want to see so much more. Every time I go somewhere, I'm like, ooh, why doesn't Sandusky have that? We need to get that. Who would you talk to? How do we do?
Speaker 1:this? I ooh, why doesn't Sadowski have that? We need to get that. Who would you talk to? How do we do this? I'll give credit or a little shout-out to Woopser, who you just interviewed. I think I remember him last year. I remember him saying you know what, if you're looking at a house, the sidewalk up to the front door is built. Now we've got to build the house and I was like you know what?
Speaker 3:It's a pretty good one. But giving people vision as they see what's possible, see what's being built, is exciting, and that's certainly been happening. So how do you? I know that there's been a lot of ups and downs, yes, and it's not easy to stay motivated, to stay driven, to stay upbeat when there are some big-time bumps in the road. You know how have you guys figured out how to kind of weather some of those storms and just continue to keep putting one foot in front of the other when, when, things are tough?
Speaker 1:Uh, you know, uh, one thing is I think, uh, us two being brothers and being kind of in different spots, we're good at different things, you know, I think that helps. It helps a lot. I think we're lucky in that way. You know, I've got a family at home. I've got two kids. So Ryan picks up a ton of slack when I can't. And, if you know, in another token, if Ryan wants to call me and says, hey, I got tickets to this concert out in Vegas, I'm going. I say, dude, go, I got it. You know it's being able to lean on somebody you really trust is huge. I think, you know, not everybody has that. In our relationship it works out pretty well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we have probably different personalities, in the sense that I'm probably more of the you know kind of manic ADHD in the place and you know Chad's more like dude. Just chill out, man, it's fine and it's good because I need that. I need that once in a while, and then once in a while, I need to be like Chad. We're going to do this and he'll go all right are you sure?
Speaker 2:So I think that our dynamic helps a lot. We also have great support from our partners as well. As a matter of fact, we're all working Friday night because we're short-staffed on Friday night, and that's another thing, and we might touch on that a little bit. But I can tell you a lot about the things that I didn't think I would be doing. I'm doing, and that's just part of being an entrepreneur and keeping a business like this alive.
Speaker 1:You're referring to cleaning toilets at 2 in the morning. Oh, cleaning toilets, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean let's go there. I mean it's like, yeah, what have been some lessons, some things that you didn't think that would be a thing, that, as it turns out, are a thing.
Speaker 2:You know, the advantage we had coming into it is we were good at public relations and marketing, so that's great, because a lot of businesses have to pay a lot for that. That's why we have tourism boards, that's why we have GSPs and things like that, so why we have tourism boards, that's why we have, you know, gsps and things like that. Um, so we have the ability to go okay, we can get this place out there. But now I've become a plumber, an electrician, um, you know, when you walked in the door, they were working on the fire suppression system. You know, you know, I can change a toilet in about 20 minutes if I need to at this point, um, and so something I did not expect, right, and you got to do that. If you want to keep it going and I think that we both have that attitude of like we'll do whatever we need to- do to make sure it goes, and I was here at 340 in the morning the other night because a sensor broke.
Speaker 2:It's not that big a deal, but you can't run the next day if it's not fixed.
Speaker 1:Thankfully he's a bit more Tim the Toolman Taylor than me, so thankfully we have you, and I haven't always been, I mean.
Speaker 2:I built a birdhouse once. That was not a birdhouse, uh, but I learned, and you know what we're in this great age where we do have all these resources and not the fault. You know, we have podcasts to listen to.
Speaker 1:YouTube's amazing yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that that's a great lesson for anybody out there that's that's running a small business or considering a small business. It's like, hey, this is, this is real life. You've got to be able to adapt, have that attitude of like, whatever it takes is what I'm going to do to make this successful. And it might be doing crazy stuff in the middle of the night YouTube, and things that you're like I really have no idea what I'm doing, but this has got to be done and that's just every day.
Speaker 2:And meanwhile you're also an accountant.
Speaker 3:Let's not forget that. Yeah, that's right, yeah, and you got to figure out how to make money doing it and and and keep your relationships. And you know there's a lot, there's a lot to it and you guys are living it out and and making it look fairly easy from the the outside, looking in. But but again, I, you know, I appreciate you letting us look behind the curtain a little bit, to what it's taken to get there and even what it still takes day to day.
Speaker 2:And it's funny. I do think sometimes that can be a challenge. There's a mental capacity to it and I do things to keep my mind straight from going and seeing a therapist occasionally to basically talk about business, um to uh, meditation, and which, mckenzie, makes me do that a lot, which is a good thing. But, um, you know, and one of the things that you have to, you know, negative feedback can be tough, um, or even little things. And so you've got to, you know, you've got to build up that armor a little bit. But you know, when someone, uh, you know you're, you're here and it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon and you're getting the bar going and someone walks in and says, boy, I don't see you here anymore, and you're like I have been here for 37 days straight, every day at 7 am, but you don't say that, that's just in your mind. So have an outlet too, and that's something that we have with each other.
Speaker 2:So, someday we might start a podcast that we tell all behind the bar. Join you and and.
Speaker 1:I was just gonna say, yeah, if we wanted to have just a strict you know, three hour conversation about tails of the bar. We could, we could easily do that.
Speaker 3:I am sure we could fill a lot of hours with some, some good, good stories, so I can. Yeah, we'll have to keep that for a bonus episode, maybe a down the pike. So well, man guys, as we kind of wind it down here, you know, if folks haven't been to Sandusky and haven't been to the Paddle Bar specifically, tell them a little more in your words what all is here, why they need to visit you, what you've got coming up, that's exciting through the summer and fall seasons.
Speaker 1:And give a little plug here for why they need to come visit. We've got a couple of cool events coming soon. Just in general-wise, bar-wise, we make our living off of fresh-squeezed juice drinks. That's kind of our jam and we kind of learned that from a place in Key West that we love to go to. But that's kind of what we're all about. We go through cases upon cases upon cases of grapefruits and oranges and lemons and limes, because that's what we're known for. We got, like Ryan alluded to earlier, we have an amazing beer selection but we've got, and like you said before, just an overall friendly, caribbean, almost tropical Colorado vibe. We just love it. But as far as stuff coming up, we've got a pretty cool event coming up.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we've got Food Truck Fest July 6th and then also Labor Day weekend where we close down the street, have live music all day, and we're always having live music and cool events. You can jump on the website PaddlebarSenduskycom. And one other thing I would say beyond Paddlebar, sandusky as a whole, this downtown it's got its own vibe. I mean, it's a boating community, it's a biking community. Business owners here are friendly. They're happy to welcome people. The bars and restaurants are fantastic. We've seen great food options grow over the last 10 years. It's all walkable and not only. Do you want to spend some time downtown? Great. You want to go to Cedar point? Fine, there's a boat that runs across the Cedar point. You want to go to the islands for a day? There's a boat that runs there, so you can really get here, park that car and be done with it, which family use as well, because of all those things that you said.
Speaker 3:We park our car and we love the walkability and the boatability and all of that and our reception with small business owners and folks that we've met has been exceptional.
Speaker 1:That's good to hear. I will affirm that. And folks that we've met has been exceptional. That's good to hear. I will affirm that. I'm also sure Mackenzie touched on it. But Thursday nights in the summertime are incredible because we have the Jackson Street music series. So they have live music out on Jackson Street every Thursday and then we've got live music here on Friday and Wednesday.
Speaker 3:So there's just a lot going on, yeah yeah, yeah, really love that and supporting the art scene and all of that is super cool. So, again, lots of ways we could sit here and talk for hours, I'm sure, about all that's going on, and maybe we will on a following episode. But thanks so much, guys, for hopping on here. It's been really fun hearing your stories and just what's going on here in Sandusky To our listeners. Thanks for tuning in and hopefully we continue to give you an appetite for coming and making a visit. I believe that you'll really enjoy it.
Speaker 3:If you need somewhere to stay, check out our Airbnb, of course, but there are lots of great options here locally. And thanks again for listening. We will be back next time, thank you. Thanks for listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast. To learn more about Main Street Reimagined Henry Development Group or our work in downtown Marion, ohio, please visit MainStreetReimaginedcom. If you want to connect or if you know someone who we need to interview, shoot us an email at info at MainStreetReimaginedcom. Until next time, keep dreaming and don't be afraid to take the leap.