You Only Lose When You Quit—Business Wisdom from The Desert Door I AO 11

Building a business isn’t for the faint of heart.

In this episode of The American Operator Podcast, Brent Looby, founder of Desert Door Sotol, shares his raw and unfiltered journey of launching a distillery with no prior industry experience. From navigating the complexities of the spirits business to the mental toll of entrepreneurship, Brent gets real about what it takes to build something from the ground up.

 In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why naivete can be an advantage when starting a business
The biggest challenges in growing a brand from scratch
How to choose the right people when building your business
Why you only lose when you quit—advice from the founder of Tito’s Vodka
The hardest part of leadership that no one prepares you for

 If you’re thinking about buying or starting a business, this is the episode for you.

🔔 Subscribe to The American Operator Podcast for more real stories from operators building America’s backbone.

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessOwnership #SmallBusiness #Leadership #AmericanOperator #buyabusiness #SMB #owner 

Join the Movement
Tactical insights and behind-the-scenes stories from America’s operators:

• Website: www.americanoperator.com
• AO In Action: https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanOperator
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theamericanoperator
• Newsletter: https://americanoperator.substack.com
• Locally Owned and Operated: https://www.locallyownedandoperated.org/

Transcript

Welcome to the American Operator podcast, where small businesses are the heartbeat of America. I'm Joseph Cabrera, and we dive into the stories of owners and operators who build and keep our communities thriving. Whether you're new to business already in the trenches, we're sure the hard earned wisdom, triumphs and challenges with running a business in this great country. Let's get to work.

00:00:23:22 - 00:00:37:00
Speaker 1
All right, team, welcome back to the American Operator Podcast. Today we got a special episode for you, one that's different from the usual format. This conversation was recorded live at a forge event hosted by Maine cheers.

00:00:37:02 - 00:00:57:02
Speaker 1
And for those of you that don't know what forge is, just think about getting the very best folks from east to West coast, north to south, bringing them down here to Texas, introducing them to other folks along the path of ownership, and most importantly, helping them develop that grit they need along this long, hard, but worth it. Road to operating a business.

00:00:57:02 - 00:01:05:05
Speaker 1
This episode features a fun and insightful conversation between myself and Brant Luby, the founder of Desert Door Soul Tool and Driftwood, Texas.

00:01:05:07 - 00:01:24:14
Speaker 1
If you're wondering what Soul Tool is, think of it as a cross between a tequila and a mescal. But it really is its own thing. And I think the chef out of Dallas really described it the best taste like Big Ben after a big rainstorm. Brant is one of the most authentic and candid business owners have had the pleasure of speaking with.

00:01:24:16 - 00:01:52:10
Speaker 1
From starting his own distillery with no prior experience in the spirits industry to creating a brand with deep cultural and historical roots, Brent's journey is full of lessons and stories that will resonate with anyone who dreams of owning and operating their own business. And even though he's a marine, he's still fellow veteran. One thing to mention before we kick off into this great combo, it's very raw, is very candid, candid, and it's really in this echoey kind of environment.

00:01:52:10 - 00:02:16:22
Speaker 1
So we just asked for a little bit of your Grace, but I think you'll appreciate why we actually filmed and recorded this conversation in the storehouse, where you have barrel stacked 11 high. You have this smell of salt in the air and Texas barbecue in the background. Lights are dim, and the environment is kind of this cool Texas evening with that means that we weren't didn't have all the studio equipment that you would normally expect.

00:02:16:22 - 00:02:23:11
Speaker 1
But that's okay, because I think it's what makes the conversation the most authentic it can be. Enjoy. Let's dive in.

00:02:24:03 - 00:02:40:22
Speaker 3
All right, y'all, we're going to go ahead and get things rolling here. Again, feel free to grab what you need and head out to the restroom or whatever you need on the way there real quick before we kick off. I mean, cheers, team. Before I forget, can we get our we get our guy played in the bus.

00:02:41:03 - 00:02:56:12
Speaker 3
Thank you. Camera already thinking about it. Thank you man. Cool. So we got Brant here. What's nice about that tour we just did? You kind of got to know who he was. I'm just going to kick a couple questions off. Brent's one of these open books. Kind of raw wound guys, and just tells it like it is.

00:02:56:14 - 00:02:56:22
Speaker 4
Yeah.

00:02:57:04 - 00:02:59:14
Speaker 3
Or like, he wants it to be massive.

00:02:59:16 - 00:03:02:12
Speaker 4
You know, fucking once.

00:03:02:14 - 00:03:14:16
Speaker 3
So we'll get into some of those questions right away and then really would love to just have y'all chat. We'll do this for a little while before we kind of close up shop here and close this out. But Brandon thanks again, man, for for doing this for us.

00:03:14:22 - 00:03:25:11
Speaker 4
From your time. I know y'all are in from all over the place. And thanks for coming out to God's country and sharing a little, barbecue and a little better door.

00:03:25:13 - 00:03:33:20
Speaker 3
If you had to do this all over again, would you do it knowing what you know now?

00:03:33:22 - 00:03:35:02
Speaker 4
Probably.

00:03:35:04 - 00:03:42:06
Speaker 3
Okay. Why is that? But why do you hesitate to? What goes through your brain?

00:03:42:08 - 00:03:48:02
Speaker 4
I think there's a there's a level of naivete that you have to have

00:03:48:08 - 00:04:11:23
Speaker 4
But there's a point, like when you go through and there's no checklist on how to do all of this stuff. Guys. So when you go down the pathway and you're like, oh my God, I've still got so far to go just to get the doors open right? And then you take a look behind you and you're like, oh, I've come so far I can't, it's too late now.

00:04:12:02 - 00:04:39:00
Speaker 4
I'm in, you know? And then you just keep your head down and you keep on going. We were right. And picking the category that we did the challenges. Is it like spirits? Space is tough. I mean, it's it's highly regulated. It's highly competitive. There's strong barriers to entry. There's so many levels that you have to, you know, count on.

00:04:39:02 - 00:05:10:12
Speaker 4
Like for us specifically, you know, I'm marketing to, you know, the buy from the guy that's put in your hand at the local liquor store or the buyer at the restaurant bar to in Texas to the wholesaler, also to the distributor and backing it up all the way to the curbside. Right. Think about how many times you have to sell the product just to get a bottle on the shelf somewhere in your neighborhood, at a local store or a restaurant.

00:05:10:14 - 00:05:34:03
Speaker 4
I mean, there's a lot of work that goes into that. And, you know, I didn't come with any industry experience, which is a blessing and a curse. It gives you artistic license. It also gives you artistic license to fail, you know? And so you have to be, you know, understand that when you when you do make a mistake, recognize that, get up and react to it.

00:05:34:03 - 00:05:42:13
Speaker 4
So, I would do it again. I like to think I would do it a little bit differently, but yes, I would.

00:05:42:15 - 00:06:07:06
Speaker 3
Then you talk about that negativity, being naive and it helps the town kind of get the ball moving. A lot of these folks, all these folks sitting here in the audience, are about to embark on becoming an owner and a business that already exists. Where do you feel outside of being naive? Do you let me back up here is part of that now activity, just understanding that nothing's going to be perfect?

00:06:07:06 - 00:06:09:13
Speaker 3
Is that kind of what you mean? And you just kind of need to go?

00:06:09:15 - 00:06:15:22
Speaker 4
No, it's it's, There's an element of that. But,

00:06:15:22 - 00:06:47:07
Speaker 4
you know, coming from a military background where. Everybody is generally trying to push the boat in the same direction. Right? We're all in the same direction. That was a hard thing for me to learn. Coming back to the private sector, that ain't the case. You know. And so I would say that when you do select, be very, very judicious in the people you select, because if you're going to if you're truly going to go out and go in your own venture, you know, just think about it.

00:06:47:09 - 00:07:03:01
Speaker 4
You didn't get to choose your parents, you didn't get to choose your spouse or your your siblings, but you got to choose your friends. Now you're at the end. Your other business ventures and whatnot. You didn't get to choose who you worked with. You got to choose where you work, but you didn't get to choose who was there.

00:07:03:03 - 00:07:30:23
Speaker 4
Now you get an opportunity to choose for the first time, who you want to do business with. And so I think it's very important that you think very, very long and hard about the people that you are actually going to put faith, confidence and trust in you. So probably anybody that I would, I would say that you would want to just make sure that they are people that you don't to like, agree politically or whatever, you know, all the time.

00:07:31:05 - 00:07:37:13
Speaker 4
Just make sure that whoever you decide to do business with and bring into your fold is a person of integrity.

00:07:37:15 - 00:07:45:15
Speaker 3
Give us a load like the day in your life. Just count one of the big racks and you spent a lot of time with today.

00:07:45:17 - 00:08:13:12
Speaker 4
Well, for me personally, it's like right now it's about distribution management, you know, because I'm, I'm reliant on people to take our product and go put it in place. It's not a great if those people aren't responsible for it flying off the shelf, but I am responsible for making sure that they're programed properly and being good stewards of our product and making sure that we are equitably represented.

00:08:13:16 - 00:08:38:23
Speaker 4
Right. You know, in a startup phase, you're not in the black. So you're obviously making sure that you're managing investor relations. And then of course, you're also managing employees as well. So I mean, there's there's there's a lot of a lot of things that you've got to balance. And then there's the occasional little one offs that pop up here, like the septic system blows up or something that you got to manage.

00:08:38:23 - 00:08:43:15
Speaker 4
But you know, those are kind of the daily, the that's the daily grind.

00:08:43:17 - 00:09:10:15
Speaker 3
As you're growing, a lot of these folks are going to be taking over businesses that have, I would consider a pretty intimate setting, you know, smaller teams, you know, you don't have a lot of layers of kind of corporate help and initiatives there. Any advice you'd give them or just kind of inside? You talked about it earlier with people being important, just they step in, just kind of advice of how you should think about people, not just kind of the folks you talk to every day, but even down to the front line and things you wish you I would have done different.

00:09:10:16 - 00:09:17:01
Speaker 4
Well, if y'all are, is everybody here looking to acquire an existing business or somebody looking to start scratch.

00:09:17:03 - 00:09:17:17
Speaker 2
All acquire.

00:09:17:23 - 00:09:53:17
Speaker 4
Acquiring existing younger? Just make sure y'all do your due diligence. I mean, obviously everybody's looking for the economic upside, right? I understand that, but, make sure that that's not the only reason that you're doing it, because if you're if you're truly looking for just solely the economic upside and you're planning on subbing it out and letting somebody else take care of it for you, that works sometimes, right?

00:09:53:17 - 00:10:21:05
Speaker 4
But you've got you've got to be the one that are managing and stewarding this thing. But even my my friends that have businesses like that, where now they are franchising these things out to get it successful, they had to be on top of it to to to set the culture right and get the culture established. And then now your DNA is imprinted in there and then you can sub it out from there.

00:10:21:05 - 00:10:44:15
Speaker 4
But just make sure that your that you're balanced in all of the reasons that you're going into this. I mean, the panels, all the performers, everything has to make sense emotionally. It has to make sense. And then you can't just expect it. I don't know any business to be fair that anybody's ever started it. They're in a little bit of blood, sweat and tears.

00:10:44:15 - 00:10:49:04
Speaker 4
It doesn't go into it. Initially for it to be successful. I just don't.

00:10:51:01 - 00:10:52:06
Speaker 3
I said Bitcoin.

00:10:52:08 - 00:10:53:15
Speaker 5
Is.

00:10:53:17 - 00:11:20:13
Speaker 4
But you know, I'm not a huge Nikki Glaser fan, to be fair. But I did love the little roast, where she was like, how did you lose $30 million in bitcoin. But even Gronk me know that not real money. So it's a for example like Bitcoin Ponzi scheme right? You get in at the right time, you get out at the right time.

00:11:20:13 - 00:11:27:14
Speaker 4
You're in good shape unless you're an illicit trade, you know, there's been bitcoins for you.

00:11:28:01 - 00:11:32:07
Speaker 3
What do you love about this now that you've gone. How many years now? Brian?

00:11:32:09 - 00:11:34:01
Speaker 4
We just finished seven.

00:11:34:03 - 00:11:38:12
Speaker 3
Now, seven years into this thing. What do you love about it?

00:11:38:13 - 00:12:01:23
Speaker 4
That the story still resonates. I mean, it's crazy that we've been doing this for seven years and the story of what we're doing is, well, it's it's not new to me. It's still new and fresh to everybody else. And that's another thing that's been really difficult. And like we get amazing talent like Jo here, right? She's brand new to this.

00:12:02:01 - 00:12:22:06
Speaker 4
But you tell the story to someone new that you would think that after seven years everybody's heard about Desert Door, but they haven't. And then when you tell them the story about what you guys just heard on the tour and they're like, oh, they get really excited about it. And so it's it's like the first time every time.

00:12:22:06 - 00:12:51:13
Speaker 4
So it's that's that's what's been that's what actually helps keep you energized is that, you know, imagine like the the band that's like coming out of high school and they're playing their freshman album, like for the ninth millionth time on Sunset Boulevard. And then all of a sudden, you know, they finally find that one record producer that, you know, it's people are still excited and get, you know, genuinely interested in hearing the story.

00:12:51:13 - 00:12:52:20
Speaker 4
That's what's been exciting.

00:12:52:22 - 00:13:12:12
Speaker 3
Yeah. No, I think that is, probably even for this group in particular, you know, the idea, we see it quite a bit. And yet you believe the story in some ways have been told for 30 years. These businesses are taking over, and becoming new owners with it's got a track record. So the idea that I have to continue telling this story almost didn't seem important.

00:13:12:14 - 00:13:29:10
Speaker 3
And we see it all the time that folks, in a way, stop telling a story, stop showing up, and then the business goes out of business. Do you find it as you're getting into the world of storytelling, as you're in the world of continuing to tell your story, how do you get your folks to make sure they're also doing that for you?

00:13:29:11 - 00:13:58:05
Speaker 4
It's constant, communication, but that's all it is open lines of communication. And, and again, about having the right folks, we have a really low turnover here like we've had folks have been working in the tasting room for six years, you know, that's it's just the folks once you have a real thing and an authentic thing, that's really kind of the cool thing when you've got an authentic backstory, people buy into it, they gravitate to it.

00:13:58:05 - 00:14:26:19
Speaker 4
And, you know, and you, I like to think that. We provide an environment where people can, like, thrive and make their own decisions. I mean, I generally I don't like to make a lot of decisions. And so, I mean, people come to me and ask for something I well, but I mean, I'm pretty high level of like, this is kind of your box inside that you, you go do what you need to do to be successful that day.

00:14:26:21 - 00:14:42:07
Speaker 4
If you have any questions, come back to me. And I mean, it is generally work and that's what people gravitate towards. They they enjoy the autonomy of being able to like kind of make their day work for them. And we like I said, we've got folks that been there over six years.

00:14:42:12 - 00:14:49:09
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. And you can tell there's a lot of yeah, there's a lot of loyalty there. And so you're saying it's not driven just completely by a paycheck.

00:14:49:11 - 00:15:09:23
Speaker 4
No. I mean, when you look at it, we see this little tasting room in the middle of nowhere, Texas. We see over 60,000 people a year. We're open three and a half days a week, and we got 4.9 on Google and 4.9 on Yelp. And nobody talks about this kid on the Google, right? You know, I mean, they're talking about the people that are up there, right?

00:15:09:23 - 00:15:15:10
Speaker 4
You know, and so that's what I think is important. Nobody even I don't think knows who I.

00:15:15:10 - 00:15:22:22
Speaker 3
And you don't have social media. Zero. I've tried bothering you on it. You can't find I try to tag you on something and I can't.

00:15:23:00 - 00:15:26:10
Speaker 4
I have I'm all over the interweb.

00:15:26:12 - 00:15:28:12
Speaker 3
But yeah, your face is all over the place.

00:15:28:17 - 00:15:30:11
Speaker 4
But I have zero social media.

00:15:30:16 - 00:15:32:19
Speaker 3
Yeah. Is that good that you think.

00:15:32:22 - 00:15:33:15
Speaker 4
It is for me?

00:15:33:19 - 00:15:34:10
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:15:34:10 - 00:15:44:19
Speaker 3
This is the last thing kind of getting the juices going. Let me know. How do you balance one, please? Thank you all for coming out here and let me bother you.

00:15:44:19 - 00:15:48:07
Speaker 3
How do you balance family and doing this thing that's all consuming?

00:15:48:09 - 00:15:54:03
Speaker 4
When I figure that out, I'll let you. I haven't figured it out.

00:15:54:05 - 00:16:02:04
Speaker 3
Did you. Have you ever had multiple. How important is it that you think to have that? At least that buy in from there?

00:16:02:06 - 00:16:16:10
Speaker 4
Yeah, I tell you what. There's there's times when this is this is a there is this is like my experience is this has been a sinusoid for the engineers out there.

00:16:16:12 - 00:16:18:13
Speaker 3
That was like, what the heck does that mean, right? I have no.

00:16:18:17 - 00:16:19:03
Speaker 5
Idea.

00:16:19:08 - 00:16:21:07
Speaker 2
Sine wave.

00:16:21:09 - 00:16:54:21
Speaker 4
The the roller coaster. There is no this. You were either here or you were here. And you. In order to to be in either place, you have to have. I couldn't imagine doing this and not having. A backstop, meaning my wife Karen, to help get me through the, you know, someone to enjoy the good, share the super high moments and then the other.

00:16:54:21 - 00:17:01:23
Speaker 4
Like when I'm, like, not feeling so super high, having that backstop, it it just it's because

00:17:01:23 - 00:17:20:21
Speaker 4
when you're running your thing. When you're super high. That's great. Right. But when you're not, you can't be around your guys and you can't take it out on you guys, because guess what? You don't want to frighten the children, you know?

00:17:20:21 - 00:17:32:22
Speaker 4
And so that's one of those things you got to be very conscious about is like, you got to take care of the people that are taking care of you. And if you ain't feeling it, don't show up at work.

00:17:32:22 - 00:17:44:07
Speaker 4
You got something else going on. That's right. And keep it at home or somewhere else. And then when you're ready to be, because these guys, they don't want to see me in a mood.

00:17:44:09 - 00:18:08:11
Speaker 4
They want to see me, like on point. And, and you're going to have those days, but there truly is nobody to that lonely at the top thing. It's for real. You got nobody else to share that with. And it is a lonely ride and you got to figure that out. And it's hard. It's hard. I'll tell you this.

00:18:08:11 - 00:18:19:06
Speaker 4
It's harder than getting shot at. Pick that in for a minute. Like, how many people in your event shot at?

00:18:19:08 - 00:18:37:16
Speaker 4
All right. One personal promise. The times that I've been shot at, it wasn't personal that you didn't know who I was. I was just another dude on the wire in a different uniform, you know? But it's.

00:18:37:18 - 00:18:39:23
Speaker 4
It can be. It's tough.

00:18:40:01 - 00:18:42:00
Speaker 3
But worth it.

00:18:42:02 - 00:19:15:08
Speaker 4
Still here. Man, as as as the, you all know him as, I know him as the Godfather. You all know him as Tito, then? Yes, there is a Tito. And, he told me a couple months ago, I was like, man, you only lose when you quit. It's, That's that's that's, that's how I approach it, you know, there was a 20 year overnight success.

00:19:15:10 - 00:19:17:19
Speaker 3
So it goes, then it.

00:19:17:19 - 00:19:26:15
Speaker 3
What questions you all have. I want to give you all a few minutes to pick Brandt's brain about anything from these barrels to other barrels here.

00:19:27:11 - 00:19:29:15
Speaker 2
And here to go back to when you started.

00:19:30:04 - 00:19:31:15
Speaker 4
I'd be a captain at Fedex.

00:19:31:15 - 00:19:34:13
Speaker 5
Right.

00:19:35:11 - 00:19:42:03
Speaker 2
When you start a business, is that differently, or what do you think the mistakes made along the way? They.

00:19:42:04 - 00:19:44:03
Unknown
Would correct

00:19:44:03 - 00:19:48:06
Unknown
me.

00:19:48:08 - 00:20:14:08
Speaker 4
I might have adjusted a little bit in my approach to, you know, a route to market above the line marketing and stuff like that. You know, I mean, so if you guys do decide to take go out and get as much money as you can and then hang on to it with both hands, like, you know, like somebody trying to, you know, like claw your kid away from you.

00:20:14:10 - 00:20:32:21
Speaker 4
That's probably what I would do a little bit differently. And then also, you know, the, Just be very mindful about who you who you align yourself with. That's what I would do differently.

00:20:33:06 - 00:20:37:06
Speaker 2
The two partners that you started with still your partner today.

00:20:37:13 - 00:20:44:04
Speaker 4
They're still co-founders, but they're not active day to day. Right?

00:20:44:06 - 00:20:44:17
Speaker 4
Yes, sir.

00:20:44:23 - 00:20:59:04
Speaker 2
How do you find people who you mentioned, like good people that are here that are running the show? How do you find that people? And part to the question, the power ship of the ownership of delegating. Like that's such a huge thing that you have to trust them. So.

00:20:59:06 - 00:21:05:10
Speaker 4
Well, I can answer the second part super easy. I'm really lazy, dude.

00:21:05:12 - 00:21:10:00
Speaker 3
Joe's like, yeah.

00:21:10:09 - 00:21:26:12
Speaker 6
I can answer the first, but we actually we came to work here because we found out about the products. And then after getting to know him and the other team members, it's this is a family. This isn't a business is in a place where I come to work. I get up every day thanking God that I come to work.

00:21:26:14 - 00:21:40:06
Speaker 6
This place is awesome. He's an innovator. It's shit. As you can imagine. The team's amazing and everybody here loves what we do. So that's the coolest part, right? Industry a long time, I'll tell you. But yeah, easy to come to work every day.

00:21:40:06 - 00:21:40:13
Speaker 3
So

00:21:40:13 - 00:21:43:12
Speaker 3
I need a third director chair up here. Man.

00:21:43:14 - 00:22:16:12
Speaker 4
Joe, I'm just trying to set a culture like I want to go to work, and, you know, everybody's going to have their their day is right, you know? And I just try to set a culture up to where like, hey, we've all this, this, we're all moving towards this one common goal. And every and I try to make sure that everybody understands how their day impacts the person to the left or right of them.

00:22:16:16 - 00:22:40:21
Speaker 4
Right. And once you kind of do that, I mean, and then I also tell people like you to, like, if you're having a bad day, everybody has them, right? Yeah. I mean, bad days are agnostic of race, socioeconomics, you know, whatever. They're everybody's got stuff to deal with. Right. And if you've got stuff you need to deal with, that's great.

00:22:40:22 - 00:23:06:10
Speaker 4
Go deal with it and then come back to work. Don't bring it here. Right. And I just like to provide a place where folks can come. I want people to be here. All right? I don't want this to just. Yeah, it's a job. And, I mean, there's going to be some elements to work that are not always going to be the most pleasant things to do, but you just want people to.

00:23:06:12 - 00:23:13:06
Speaker 4
You got to get by it. Right? That's the thing. It's a it's about culture. It 100% comes down to culture.

00:23:16:13 - 00:23:17:11
Speaker 3
Man.

00:23:17:12 - 00:23:42:18
Speaker 2
A lot of these guys and gals here, like you got different sort of species in terms of, you know, some folks want to buy a business and five here, sell it and take the arbitrage. Some want to buy a lifestyle business for 30 years. Did you have a thesis kind of going into this. And then the second question was just kind of how that's maybe evolved like is this now something real like I hope my kids take this over.

00:23:42:20 - 00:24:08:01
Speaker 4
No I'm not. Even though my daughter runs her events space. And this is one of the kind of things how depending on where you get in the investor stage of things, because at some point you will have to make a choice on that. And we are we are growing this business where there will there will be an exit at some point.

00:24:08:03 - 00:24:10:10
Speaker 3
What else

00:24:10:10 - 00:24:11:10
Speaker 3
did the door

00:24:11:10 - 00:24:13:22
Speaker 3
on the name of the store that.

00:24:14:00 - 00:24:41:18
Speaker 4
So when we left the class, our our actual class project, the company was called 100 proof. And our business or the actual name of our spirit was 1836. And so for you non Texans here, that's when we got our independence from Mexico. But as we were going through our brand development, there's our large chain liquor store in Texas aspects.

00:24:41:20 - 00:24:49:06
Speaker 4
And they have a store brand of multiple spirits. But it's under the brand of 1835, right.

00:24:49:08 - 00:24:50:16
Speaker 5
Okay.

00:24:50:17 - 00:24:53:05
Speaker 4
That's that's going to be hard to differentiate.

00:24:53:07 - 00:24:57:11
Speaker 5
So,

00:24:57:13 - 00:25:31:00
Speaker 4
And the three of the three founders were not necessarily on the same page ideologically on what the brand was. And so eight years ago, we were a Texas brand. Now that we're in 20 states, Europe, internet and, armed forces, we're now a brand from Texas. So it's a those are different things, right? But at the time we were a Texas brand and we didn't share the same ideas on what that truly embodied.

00:25:31:02 - 00:25:55:14
Speaker 4
And so, we got this branding exercise. I don't remember the name of the the deck, but it's a card deck. And we got introduced to a, design firm here in East Austin. We had this brand deck that, like, had word descriptors on either side of the card. They were the antithesis of one another. And the whole goal was to go.

00:25:55:15 - 00:26:19:22
Speaker 4
And while we're passing around, there was three designers and the three of us who were passing around a bottle of Mexican so Tall while we're actually doing this. And the whole goal, they was the brand is or is not, and you had to get it is or is not file if you weren't sure that was okay. But at the end of that you had to pick up the the not sure pile and you had to get it.

00:26:19:22 - 00:26:50:15
Speaker 4
And the is is not pile. We did that iteration twice. We started it a third time. And then like literally like as abruptly as you can imagine, the like in the third iteration, the the lead designer was like, okay, got it. Know what you're looking for? We're like, you do go, yep. Got it. Okay. So like three days later, 2 or 3 days later, we get a list of names from them, ten primary and four alternates.

00:26:50:15 - 00:27:18:08
Speaker 4
They were all great names. And we, the three of us immediately gravitated towards the desert door. And notice I said the desert door. And the reason for that is when you think about what the entendre of what spirits mean and how why we even call alcohol spirits, it's because of like you go back to history and like now you're going into the spirit world and you know, all this thing.

00:27:18:08 - 00:27:35:21
Speaker 4
So, Imbibing is alleged and supposed to be for that state of reverence. Right? It's a transporter. Not like me drinking for a utility. It's supposed to.

00:27:35:21 - 00:27:36:22
Speaker 5
Be to.

00:27:36:23 - 00:27:59:23
Speaker 4
Put yourself, you know, it's like you're, you know, I mean, like, our core values here are originality, authenticity and connection. And so that's the that's the piece that I think is the most important. It's like when you're imbibing, you know, and the next time you guys have a dessert or a cocktail, you're going to be sitting right back here with me in this cold ass warehouse.

00:28:00:00 - 00:28:44:23
Speaker 4
And so it's that it's a it's a metaphor on a couple of different levels. One, when you're metaphorically open that door. Something we didn't talk about on the tour was that the that plant out there like, 10,000 years ago, in indigenous peoples, when they would follow migratory proteins throughout the, the seasons, they would pick up and cook whatever vegetation was in that region, you know, and that's Pedro's oven cooking is where you dig a shallow, oblong, hole light of fire, put rocks on it, heat the rocks up, put whatever vegetation is covered up, come back.

00:28:44:23 - 00:29:16:10
Speaker 4
And now you've got steamed, cooked plant. That's something that was done across the Americas for millennia. Well, in this part of the world, they would cook stuff. They would eat it like, artichoke. They would make unleavened bread with it. They would, death. The long leaves use it as a source of material for, weaving baskets, hats, mat sandals, the stick, the stalks, like lightweight fiber, carbon fiber steel, super strong, use it for weapons and for hunting.

00:29:16:12 - 00:29:43:18
Speaker 4
Most importantly, though, about 800 years ago, there's, evidence where they've carved these, cylindrical wells into these rock formations adjacent to some of these ovens. There's so tall fermentation in these wells that they've carbon dated to about 800 years ago, carbon dated with some of these, some of the world's best petroglyphs, which is on a ranch about nine miles south of ours.

00:29:43:20 - 00:30:08:15
Speaker 4
And it shows natives imbibing and paying homage to the plant. So they believe that. They discovered that you could add water to the plant and it would ferment. They were using it as an intoxicant during ceremonies. So it's the oldest alcoholic beverage consumed in this part of the world. And then Spaniards came in the 1600s, brought European distillation technology with them.

00:30:08:17 - 00:30:36:14
Speaker 4
Now you've got some rudimentary district. And then a Soto, which pre-dates mezcal must certainly produce tequila. So going back to your question about why the desert door now, you're not just opening a door of Texas, you know, of like literally West Texas, but now you're opening the trajectory of history, but you're also connecting where it's supposed to connect you with yourself, your friends, your family, the outdoors, you know, music, arts, culture.

00:30:36:16 - 00:30:58:23
Speaker 4
And so that's why the concept of the door was achieved. Secondarily, it was like of all the names that came up, we wanted to make sure that this was something that was only could be construed as an American spirit. We didn't want to think that we were anything but American. So that's a longer story that you're probably looking for.

00:30:58:23 - 00:31:04:00
Speaker 4
But.

00:31:04:02 - 00:31:05:02
Speaker 3
What else is on your right?

00:31:05:02 - 00:31:08:13
Speaker 4
What else you got other than me telling you don't do it.

00:31:09:05 - 00:31:16:03
Speaker 2
You got you got three founders there, all that see the world differently. Seven years later, everybody's still involved in some way, shape or form.

00:31:16:03 - 00:31:18:13
Speaker 2
No, no.

00:31:18:15 - 00:31:22:15
Speaker 4
We're still friends. But I'm the only one that's involved on the day to day basis.

00:31:22:15 - 00:31:24:02
Speaker 2
Interesting. Yeah.

00:31:24:02 - 00:31:27:22
Speaker 2
Okay, so the question was how do you stay on the same page over a period of time.

00:31:28:00 - 00:31:31:13
Speaker 4
But it's not required at this point.

00:31:33:21 - 00:31:39:17
Speaker 2
So what why you and why what would what drove you more than your.

00:31:39:19 - 00:31:39:22
Speaker 4
I

00:31:39:22 - 00:31:54:21
Speaker 4
don't know that I necessarily have, I think we all had different, different ambitions. I think that's really the thing is, like, everybody got what they were looking for at the moment, and we just had different ambitions.

00:31:55:00 - 00:32:02:04
Speaker 2
And you want to move on to the next what?

00:32:02:04 - 00:32:02:20
Speaker 2
What happen?

00:32:02:22 - 00:32:09:18
Speaker 4
Just 1 or 2 or.

00:32:09:20 - 00:32:21:13
Speaker 4
There's been a lot of challenges. That, that, I and I've just.

00:32:21:15 - 00:32:25:00
Speaker 4
Without getting into like, specifics, I mean, there's been a lot of challenges.

00:32:25:00 - 00:32:49:23
Speaker 1
You know, whether it's been a fundraiser or whether it's been, letting go of an employee that you was you considered to be, you know, a trusted confidant, and you had to let them go for cause or, you know, I mean, there's there's been a lot of those things, and you're just like, you're compelled to do it because it's the right thing to do.

00:32:49:23 - 00:33:01:13
Speaker 1
But it's like it doesn't make it any easier. I mean, there's those are the things that that are just really, really tough.

00:33:01:14 - 00:33:04:09
Speaker 2
Anything else top of mind for your.

00:33:04:11 - 00:33:05:22
Speaker 1
I'm okay. Thank you.

00:33:06:01 - 00:33:07:12
Speaker 3
Okay. Thank you. Joe,

00:33:07:12 - 00:33:14:18
Speaker 3
out of surprising question, you said Armed Forces International. Several different states. Is that all coming out of here?

00:33:14:18 - 00:33:18:21
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

00:33:18:23 - 00:33:37:14
Speaker 2
Good advice. Speaking on that there, Brandon, just to kind of piggyback, what do you slow. Smooth smooth this fast. Start small. Get on base. What are those things resonate with you just kind of like I think a lot of the times folks want to kind of. Let me take it all on first. I'm going to buy seven businesses first or I already think about those things.

00:33:37:14 - 00:33:38:10
Speaker 2
Where are your thoughts on that?

00:33:38:13 - 00:33:58:17
Speaker 1
I have everybody's got their own philosophy on that, and I don't necessarily have. I wouldn't say that mine was right or wrong or other. I just, you know, there's there's folks that say go, an inch wide and a mile deep and really develop. And there's folks that say, go as wide as you can. And I've seen I've seen both work and I've seen both fail.

00:33:58:19 - 00:34:21:19
Speaker 1
So I don't know that I agree that there's I think that there's a balance in all of that depending on what you're trying to accomplish, you know, are you in a land grab or are you a niche, you know, so kind of depends on what your competitive landscape looks like. But I don't I don't agree that there is a single philosophy on how to be successful in any business.

00:34:22:20 - 00:34:26:12
Speaker 3
So. Well,

00:34:26:12 - 00:34:35:11
Speaker 3
question. How is your relationship with those early investors evolved over the years? Are they still kind of key investors or is that changed?

00:34:35:19 - 00:35:11:19
Speaker 1
No, it's it's yeah. No. I would, I would say largely, still very good. Largely for sure. Some are more active than others, but yeah, there's, there's a reason why we're still here, and that's because they're engaged and they still believe. I mean, that's the thing like, you know, you if you. You know, I, I liken it to like when I used to study a lot of Peter Lynch, you know, stocks, you know, like when you did the research and you actually in your in it for the right reasons.

00:35:11:19 - 00:35:20:04
Speaker 1
And if you believe in all of those, you know, the reasons that you got in and you still believe in it seven years later, it'll work.

00:35:20:04 - 00:35:22:20
Speaker 3
Out, you know?

00:35:22:20 - 00:35:32:19
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's okay to do that. Like how do you approach investors and even partners now differently than what you did? Beginning.

00:35:34:14 - 00:36:03:08
Speaker 1
So when you're looking for there's a lot of money out there, a lot of money. You have to be very judicious about the money that you take and make sure that that money that you're taking is more than just money. You know, you you want a value added partner, somebody that cares about and believes in what you're trying to accomplish and then can also somehow.

00:36:03:10 - 00:36:30:11
Speaker 1
You know, affect your value proposition, right? You know, like, what's their network? You know, can they can they affect the top line of your company or can they have, you know, can they affect your gross margins? Can they do anything to do? Can they do anything for your company other than just regular chat and then come and yell at you quarterly about, you know.

00:36:30:13 - 00:36:38:16
Speaker 1
I've turned down way more money than I've ever taken.

00:36:38:18 - 00:36:43:00
Speaker 2
But I got time for 1 or 2 more. Anything else? Top of mind.

00:36:43:10 - 00:36:57:18
Speaker 3
What one skill set do you think that you were at your next? Or what skill sets you think that you got from maybe three, maybe from private sector? Make the business forward. What do you think are the most important and how?

00:36:57:21 - 00:37:03:13
Speaker 1
Ironically, it was probably my engineering degree. Okay.

00:37:03:15 - 00:37:05:05
Speaker 3
The chemistry and.

00:37:05:07 - 00:37:09:23
Speaker 1
You know, all the all the all that over there.

00:37:10:01 - 00:37:13:12
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I guess you just to figure it out.

00:37:13:13 - 00:37:15:12
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:37:15:17 - 00:37:20:00
Speaker 3
And with it, did you say you went to school after you got.

00:37:20:00 - 00:37:21:01
Speaker 1
Out of the Marines?

00:37:21:01 - 00:37:25:18
Speaker 1
As I was retiring my last two years in the Marine Corps, active duty. I was in business.

00:37:25:20 - 00:37:28:10
Speaker 3
How old were you at that point?

00:37:28:12 - 00:37:29:23
Speaker 1
45.

00:37:30:01 - 00:37:40:19
Speaker 3
And did you? Was the plan to did you, when you went to business school just to learn you weren't really sure what you wanted to do, but it sounds like at the end, obviously the class project turned into this.

00:37:40:21 - 00:37:41:11
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:37:41:11 - 00:37:44:00
Speaker 3
No, because you were trying to figure out what to do next.

00:37:44:04 - 00:37:48:00
Speaker 1
This is not what I sold my wife on.

00:37:48:02 - 00:37:49:13
Speaker 3
The path.

00:37:49:15 - 00:38:26:06
Speaker 1
So in the Marine Corps. Yeah. Your your job is to fly, but your real job is something bigger a a a day job. Flying is like in your spare time if you will, but you're still mostly responsible for flying. But your real responsibility is like what is your collateral job. And kind of the impetus for me going back to business school was I was always and generally and most of most across all the armed services, your level of responsibility comes with your rank.

00:38:26:06 - 00:38:54:06
Speaker 1
We call it a billet abilities, a job. Excuse me, but, I was always, for some reason, in a job that was typically at least one rank above where I was. And so the last and biggest like job that I had and, the one of the biggest in the Marine Corps was I was, I was a major at the time.

00:38:54:08 - 00:39:22:19
Speaker 1
And typically this job was held by a lieutenant colonel, and, I was the operations officer for the largest marine air group in the world. That means I had four different type models, series of aircraft. I had 4500 Marines under my purview for the feeding training of. I had 8 billion in assets and holdings and a $300 million annual operating budget.

00:39:22:21 - 00:39:49:02
Speaker 1
And I just got to thinking, what? I bet the dude or gal in the private sector with that much responsibility make way more than this kid on the. Okay. Now, granted, I didn't have a PNL to manage, but I did have a budget to manage and I had to make sure that every box was checked across everything for that fiscal year, and we hit all of our objectives.

00:39:49:06 - 00:40:09:09
Speaker 1
Right. And so that was really kind of the impetus of me. Like, you know what? Let me go back to business. Go. I'll learn how to speak to the private sector, translate all of these life skills into something meaningful, and I'll go get one of those BBC level jobs, you know, and I got ten years of hard work left in me.

00:40:09:09 - 00:40:12:03
Speaker 1
You know what else? Go get that. Go. And then I tell my wife, like.

00:40:12:05 - 00:40:12:17
Speaker 3
What do you think.

00:40:12:17 - 00:40:18:18
Speaker 1
About starting a distillery? So, yes, know that this is not what.

00:40:18:20 - 00:40:20:04
Speaker 3
I wanted to fund. God, I love it.

00:40:20:08 - 00:40:22:14
Speaker 1
I was I thought I was going to go be a suit.

00:40:22:16 - 00:40:40:03
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I wanted to ask because I know I talk about these guys in the room. You just people. You have that fear, right? Like, am I too old? Am I to that? Not that eight year old, but. Right. It's like. And it's always interesting to to just think back and reverse engineer like those moments. But it's like the flip side of a switch kind of flip for you.

00:40:40:03 - 00:40:48:21
Speaker 3
And then you went in that direction. So that's, that's cool that you and then you know, and then to just kind of go to go with it. Right. This wasn't your plan, but.

00:40:48:22 - 00:40:57:09
Speaker 1
Well, my wife will tell you that. And probably my parent's greatest gift to me was,

00:40:57:10 - 00:41:15:20
Speaker 1
I don't believe in founders is don't. You know, I mean. I did read the comic strip this morning. It's like you can set your mind to do anything right, except not die. You know, that's the time.

00:41:15:22 - 00:41:18:19
Speaker 3
But.

00:41:18:21 - 00:41:33:12
Speaker 1
I do believe that the the first. The second. You know, the only time that you're going to be right is the second you go. I can't, and the second you say, I can't guess what? You're right. You can't.

00:41:33:12 - 00:41:59:03
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating and keep America moving forward.