Butcher, Bytes, and the Business of Community

In this episode of Wired Together, we sit down with Michael Vaughn, owner of Lakeside Butcher Shop in Bracey, VA, to talk about what small businesses bring to the table that big box stores and online giants just can’t:

• Knowing your name and your order
• Supporting ball teams, fire departments, and families in crisis
• Bending over backwards to special-order what you actually need
• Living that “choose your hard” life of 24/7 small business ownership

We also get honest about negative reviews, algorithms that make you “pay to play,” and why relationships built on trust, not just consistency, are the backbone of a healthy community—especially heading into the holidays.

Plus, Miles (our AI co-host) jumps in to run a round of The Slogan Game—from “Just Do It” to “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

If you’ve ever wondered whether it really matters where you spend your dollars… this one’s for you. 

🎧 Wired Together is produced by WinternetWeb Technologies, a family-run web design and tech studio based in Bracey, Virginia.
💻 Visit us at winternetweb.com 

Transcript

Melanie 0:06

All right, welcome again to Wired Together with your hosts uh Jason Winter and Melanie Winter.

Jason 0:13

Alright, so yeah, we we're just uh thankful to have another guest uh this week.

Melanie 0:20

It's always good to have guests and not just hear yourself.

Jason 0:22

I know, yeah. Well, we're tired of hearing each other.

Melanie 0:25

Yeah.

Jason 0:26

Um and and and that that's on the podcast too.

Melanie 0:32

It's true.

Jason 0:33

Right. So um, but yeah, like I said, we have a special guest and we're gonna get Miles here. And um and if anyone's missed a couple episodes, our AI guest host, we name Miles. Sometimes he remembers that's his name, sometimes he doesn't, but he's trying to get better. So let's go with that. Hey Miles, can you introduce our podcast guest today?

Miles (AI Guest Host) 0:59

Absolutely. So let's do it once more. Today we're welcoming Michael Vaughn, the owner of Lakeside Butcher Shop in Borace, Virginia. He's all about quality meets and that personal hometown touch and bringing a bit of small-town charm to the table. So let's give him a warm welcome. Let me know if that works for you.

Jason 1:17

That was a great introduction. I do appreciate that, Miles. We'll bring you back in later, okay?

Miles (AI Guest Host) 1:25

Absolutely. Happy to help out. Just call me back in anytime you need me. I'll be here and ready to jump in whenever you're ready.

Jason 1:33

I bet you will. That's pretty cool.

Melanie 1:35

Miles has a cold. We don't really know what happened.

Jason 1:38

Yeah. Well, it's not at least his voice incorrect so much this time.

Melanie 1:42

You know, but but Michael, welcome. Yeah, well thanks for having me.

Jason 1:45

Yeah. Um we're just we're going to doing a segment on, you know, kind of like big business, small business, and I guess advantages and disadvantages of that.

Melanie 1:55

And how convenient we actually have a butcher shop across the street, and uh we like Michael and we figured he'd come by and say hello.

Jason 2:05

We shop there as much as we can.

Micahel Vaughan 2:06

Appreciate you guys coming by and spending time with us and shopping with us. So we appreciate it.

Jason 2:13

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Melanie 2:15

And we're gonna kind of talk about, you know, the the difference between small town and big um small town, small business and big business, and um, you know, the the struggles that may happen, but also why it's really, really important, I think, especially in today's time.

Jason 2:32

Definitely.

Melanie 2:33

What do you think, Michael?

Micahel Vaughan 2:35

Yes, good topic. Good topic.

Melanie 2:41

Well, with the holidays kicking into gear, um, you know, I I don't know about y'all, but I've been seeing Christmas stuff since what, August?

Micahel Vaughan 2:50

It might have been like everywhere you go, you see.

Melanie 2:53

Christmas trees, ornaments, and but getting into November, we're kind of settling into holidays are gonna happen regardless of what we feel. So, but you know, that's when a lot of small business is, you know, need the customer pull. So we need to definitely always promote that.

Jason 3:13

Yeah, the you know, small businesses especially, and it we have a good community and we do support one another, but it's always a good reminder that you know it the small businesses are the money isn't going to some corporate city out there, you know. This is what people rely on to pay for dance classes, baseball, you know, and things like that. And it's um I think we'll get into why some people may make decisions to try to go with the bigger companies and all that, but maybe what what you're sacrificing in that, you know, you don't always get the level of service, you don't always get the quality. Um, yeah, you may get it cheaper, but is that maybe in the bigger scheme of things to what you're going for?

Melanie 4:05

And then maybe you don't.

Jason 4:08

Right. Dun dun dungeons. Exactly, yeah. No, it's definitely true.

Micahel Vaughan 4:12

That's right. Well, a lot of the support that small businesses get, it does go back into the fire department, the ball teams. We we get sponsored people coming by and asking for sponsorships, and and then when there's catastrophes or things in the community that families need, um, we want to give back a small business. We want to help and we want assist. So um we really need the support of the locals to shop and patronize us so that we have the funds to do that. Um most small business owners are uh it's a struggle to stay, you know, with the economy up and down and with the changes of times, um you don't always have the ability to make adjustments, but you do everything possible to accommodate everybody.

Melanie 5:01

Exactly. Yes. And we do, we have to bend over backwards a little to it's not about well, this is what we do and that's it, and we can't shift. Uh small business bends over backwards. We're gonna make it work for each customer. And that's you know, one of the things that's the difference the personal touch. You know, a lot of our customers we already know. They, you know, we know what they got for Christmas last year, and you know, things like that. Sometimes you can answer those questions. I've had so many people, you know, um, I also work with a um winery nearby, and so a lot of those people come in and say, What is this customer like?

Jason 5:48

And and I can actually rattle it off, and you know it's like, oh yeah, they gravitate toward this or right, because it it is small enough to be able to do that.

Micahel Vaughan 5:56

Well, you begin to see where they live in the small communities, you know when you know somebody is sick because they don't come in on a weekly basis, so you you're concerned about where are they? Because they typically come in and they may purchase something every week, and then when they miss a week or two, you know, you want to reach out and call, and your big companies they don't do that. No, I've never had big companies that call me and say, Hey Michael, I haven't seen you in a couple of weeks. Where are you?

Melanie 6:24

Right, how you doing? As your family.

Jason 6:27

You might get something generically in the mail. Right, well.

Melanie 6:33

And you know, it's a big difference between you know, going ahead and being able to to have that conversation, walk in a store, walk in a a building, and and you already know the people, you already, you know, you can kind of go right into it, and you can go right into your fix of what you need, you know. Uh for us, we do a lot of computer repair, and so you know, we don't have to always run through the high higher use. Sometimes it's like, okay, well, this broke. Right. You know, and and you can kind of go ahead and and shift quickly.

Jason 7:08

Right. And it's like you know I messed something up, and it's like, no, no, no, you know, just because I know this doesn't mean you don't, it's not, yeah.

Melanie 7:16

You try to be timely because you know, you want that person to be able to have what they need.

Jason 7:20

Yeah.

Melanie 7:21

And and as opposed to like submitting a ticket and waiting forever for oh sure, you know, or or you know, something bigger where you're you're you're online or you're on the phone call for hours, things like that, where you did they have too many customers to deal with. You walk into one of our buildings and yeah, you're gonna be talking to somebody immediately. That's right.

Micahel Vaughan 7:44

I mean that's yeah, go ahead. That's what it's about. I mean, just making a personal contact and a personal touch where you can communicate, where you can relate, and um you can also build a relationship with people. That's a part of what we try to do with Lakeside Butcher Shop is adding on to have people come in and sit. And so on Saturdays you'll see a lot of that Saturday morning. They'll come in and congregate for one hour or two and sit and watch the westerns and you know, just talk to local people getting together, and uh that's how you get to know your customers and that's what it's all about.

Melanie 8:21

I mean, the gathering place was the most important place since ancient history, you know? I mean that is who we are as as humans.

Jason 8:29

We are social beings. Yeah. And um I think COVID really messed us up with that because we couldn't be social and then it also changed a lot of the rules and but the wonderful thing about COVID is when you came out of it, it was like this is necessary.

Melanie 8:43

It is, yeah. You know, we had to it's sometimes you have to experience something to realize, wow, this is what we need.

Jason 8:50

Right. You know, that's what I was gonna get at. We didn't realize no, you're fine. I mean it it it kind of proves the point that that is how we feel that as being social beings, we didn't realize how much that was part of our being. And I I swear I think it took me a couple months to get back into the socialization, you know, because it was so long, and I mean of course, well well, we didn't like lock ourselves in the closet. We still went about and did stuff, but society as a whole didn't really function the way it used to, and a lot of the programs weren't back up and running and all that, but well, the good thing about rural area, you've got a little more space. Oh yeah, we can take six feet, it's like, man, I could fit everybody, you know. Right.

Melanie 9:32

Yeah, so but and you know, one thing about small business that we've always um and this is any kind of system, also, you know. Um bigger systems move slowly.

Jason 9:50

That's true.

Melanie 9:51

You know, so you think about the Titanic heading for an iceberg. The Titanic was too big, it was it you can't move it but so fast. Whereas a skift, you know, you can sit there and you know fly through an iceberg and not have to worry about it. And so the smaller the business, actually the easier and quicker decision making can be. I mean, we've decided to do something in like within 24 hours.

Jason 10:13

We didn't even know that morning we were going to. It's ordered, it's on the way, we are shifting.

Melanie 10:18

Let's have this happen.

Micahel Vaughan 10:19

You don't have to go through all the chain of commands.

Melanie 10:22

Right. I mean, all we did was ask ourselves, hey, do you think that's yeah, I do think that's a good idea, you know. That's right.

Micahel Vaughan 10:28

That's right.

Melanie 10:29

Yeah, and you know, for the customer, that's great because we can shift on saying, you need that, I can offer that.

Micahel Vaughan 10:36

That's right.

Melanie 10:37

I will I will look this up, I will find it, you know.

Micahel Vaughan 10:40

That's right. We do that oftentimes um with customers. They'll come in and specifically order something that we don't customarily have, and we'll place that order, and you know, we'll get that in for them, and your big stores are not gonna do that. So that's something that you know the smaller local people really, like you said earlier, bend over backwards to accommodate um whatever they can to uh please their customers and make them happy. And it also shows you know the effort that we put into it.

Melanie 11:14

So sometimes just seeing that need.

Micahel Vaughan 11:18

Right. Yeah.

Jason 11:21

Yeah, and again, you're talking about the nimbleness of small business and everything, um you know, and all the chain of command with big business, and uh I think it's the reason why we always feel so disfranchised oftentimes with uh a lot of the larger companies because it's like one size fits nobody.

Melanie 11:42

Right.

Jason 11:42

You know, and but again with small business, and you talking about just a few moments ago, there's a customer that comes in every week and it's just almost clockwork, you know. You know you're gonna see them, and then when you don't, you've got concern, and it's like maybe something going on, and you know, and it's always out of concern with that, and but again with a small business, you're able to to bend, to change your product line um rather quickly based on needs of people and things like that. And I think it's what a lot of people we hear a lot of complaints, you know, of course, Walmart, this, whatever, and other b you know businesses we complain so much because we kind of just we we feel like a number.

Melanie 12:25

Um get you frustrated, right? And you know, a lot of times the big business, what they've done, um, you know, of course we have box stores still like big businesses, Walmart and you know, things like that.

Micahel Vaughan 12:36

Sure.

Melanie 12:37

But also also a lot of big business went online. And you know, for us, I I get we're tech, but at the same time, it we're tech with the customer service.

Jason 12:48

Oh yeah, I mean service has always been a big part of it.

Melanie 12:50

It's not we would not tell you, oh, just go online and and don't even worry about having a conversation with me. No, we want the conversation, we want to make sure that we're are sitting down talking with you face to face is the best.

Jason 13:03

That's right. Always.

Melanie 13:05

But that whole, you know, we'll just go online and get it done. And and they're telling a generation, you know, several generations in there who haven't grown up with this. Sure, it's not maybe don't want to go online and get it done and actually want to talk to a human. And and we're automating things so much in the big business that people are starting to really gravitate to that small business. Right. Can you help me with this? It's like, absolutely. You know, they that that's that's what they're familiar with.

Jason 13:35

Yeah.

Melanie 13:35

And it was kind of this in-between where it was like the small stores grew into bigger stores, but you still had some customer service. Yeah. Well, now we've gone so far past that anything real big is automated. Yeah, there's no customer service.

Micahel Vaughan 13:51

Yep.

Melanie 13:52

So now we kind of have to start back over with small business and say, hey, let's let's have something still where you can come in and talk to people.

Jason 14:00

Right.

Micahel Vaughan 14:00

That's right.

Jason 14:02

I mean, they're they're competing with a different level of fish. You know, they're trying they're trying to make whatever overhead and all that because they have so much put into the infrastructure of how they do it that it's like, yes, the more we automate, the more we can compete with that level, but you're sacrificing, you know, that person-to-person level of service.

Melanie 14:23

It's expensive to talk to customers on that level.

Micahel Vaughan 14:28

With the small business owners, they are the customer service. They they are the janitors, they're the cash. No, right, yeah. They're the managers, they they do everything. The 20 hats. You can go to them and talk to them, and they're gonna do what's necessary to make it right. Yeah. That's the beauty of having small businesses. And so many times, you know, what frustrates me a lot of times is instead of people addressing it with you or coming talking to you, they post it all over social media. Uh yeah. And then it's like, what you could have just came in here and said something and we fixed it, or you know, we accommodate you. And so that's you know, I guess that's what they're used to doing with big businesses. And so they don't it doesn't affect them, but it like it does a small business. Sure.

Melanie 15:16

Right. You can throw it on Yelp and you know, you're mad at Amazon. Well, sure, but that's you know, don't don't post post it on a small business when you know you you might be killing somebody's livelihood doing that.

Jason 15:30

And you know, I don't I don't know about I guess what I'm thinking about going into is a lot of people that aren't in business for themselves don't understand what the pressures of that business actually are and what you're having to deal with. And I mean, yes, I can talk about taxes and things like that, but and it's amazing Um how many things you have to worry about, so at the end of the day, it's like, well, why don't they just do this? And it's like because you're having to worry, like you said, you're the jammer, you're I mean you're every part of it, especially in a very small business. Um but it there are a lot there's a lot of things you're responsible for that kind of I guess get in that way. Um some of it's out of your control. Well, yeah. Some of it is most of it is that's what I'm saying. And it's like, well, I'm obligated for this and this.

Melanie 16:26

We still have to abide by the laws of any big business that can, you know, hire a lawyer out, you know, any time they need. We still have to abide by the same things and and have to be in compliance with this. Right. We might not always have that lawyer on hand for compliance issues, you know. So it's you know, you've got to um figure out how to make that work in your your smaller setting.

Jason 16:50

Yeah.

Melanie 16:51

And you know, it relationships with our our small businesses that our customer base is that relationship built on trust. If what people don't understand when they post something that's negative, right? Um, again, uh unlike Yelp, where you're mad at you know, Texas Roadhouse.

Micahel Vaughan 17:13

Sure.

Melanie 17:13

I mean, they could care less. They're not build building a relationship on trust, they're building a relationship on consistency. Yeah. That steak's gonna taste exactly the same no matter which Texas Roadhouse you go to. Right. They only build their relationship on consistency. With small business, we build our relationships on trust. And that can be very detrimental when you've got somebody that's not willing to come in and have a conversation and post something that's going to tear you apart when you didn't realize or you could have fixed it. Right. And that's I think what a lot of um non-small business owners or non-business owners don't always understand when it comes to this is not the same thing. This is this is a big difference.

Micahel Vaughan 18:01

The effects of it are different too. And that's that's that's the major thing, you know. Um, you're building relationships with people, and some people will come in just to purchase whatever it is that you have, they come in. It could be my store, your store, anybody's store.

Jason 18:18

Right.

Micahel Vaughan 18:18

But they don't realize the effort that's put in behind making that, producing that, stocking it, the sacrifice you may have had to have price adjustments because the you know, markets go up, right? But you can't afford to do that because it'll eliminate who comes in. True, right? You know, so you you have to a lot of times people don't understand those, like you said, pressures. Right. What do I do with this situation? Um, just recently we've had to make some a lot of changes in a store, and amongst that we've had things breaking down and repairs need to be made. And so with the smaller businesses, you know, I've been able to establish some relationships with some people locally. Uh, just yesterday, one of my customers he came in and took the refrigerate the freezer apart for me and helped me. So that's what you get with small businesses. You know, and so it goes both ways. We appreciate them and they appreciate us. And so that's when you have that's what it's about to me.

Jason 19:22

Yeah.

Micahel Vaughan 19:22

Is establishing that somebody that you never knew. Now they come in on a consistent basis and you build a relationship with that where if something does go wrong, right? They're not gonna ridicule or criticize or they hey, what can we do to help you?

Jason 19:37

Sure.

Micahel Vaughan 19:37

Right. And uh that's when you really I think it it it's worth it. Kind of see um the effort from both ways, and and it's the appreciation of that, you know. Um they didn't have to do that, they didn't charge me anything, they stopped, took their time to help me, and you know, in return we try to do things for them. So that's what small businesses are based on anyway.

Jason 20:02

Exactly. No, you're exactly right.

Melanie 20:04

And well, I mean, the reason we two years ago became full time was uh the customers. We were uh at a point where we had so many and were building more that it was gonna hurt our service to establish in the service that we have for the customers that we already had to continue um with full-time jobs, yeah. The the business. So we decided to take the leap and go ahead and go into the business, and the relationships that we have built from there have just been amazing.

Jason 20:43

Yeah, no looking back.

Melanie 20:44

I yeah, I would never um imagine that that was the reason, but it definitely now that you're you know in it, it's like that's the reason. It's it's the relationships, right?

Jason 20:55

Yeah, definitely. You're talking about you know, people coming out to help you and all that, and I d I know especially with like locally sourced stuff that you know a small vegetable like in your situation would try to bring in from time to time. You get a situation where you got potatoes or corn or something that might be um from a farmer. And now these people aren't, you know, harvesting four hundred acres of product. You know, it's what they've put together and you know, you pay them for that and it helps you because you have, you know, someone's buying steaks, hey, I need you know, something to go with it. Um you can't charge 12 cents for a you know, an item because you're helping them out, and that sometimes is something people may not understand. You gotta pay the farmer for it. Yeah, but you can't buy it at the same price that for some wholesale whatever, but it's it's local. It's you know, we all I guess need to be understanding of that and helping each other out.

Micahel Vaughan 22:01

And that's the challenges of um comparing a small business to a big corporation. There is really not a a comparison. Right. So comparison, you know, a twelve hundred square foot store compared to uh twenty thousand square foot um with fifty employees at a shift with a small uh business. It's only two people, three, four people running it, sometimes one.

Jason 22:29

Right.

Micahel Vaughan 22:30

And so um people just they sometimes don't have patience or understanding, and some people do. And uh those are the people that you want to really bend over backwards for and help accommodate because they do understand. Yeah, they appreciate the service that you provide, and they appreciate the work and the effort, and they can see the consistency every day. They understand the sacrifices that are made. You know, um, so it's you do things because you love to do it, you want to do it, and you want to build relationships with people, you want to provide a product or a service in the community, and oftentimes that's what happens. People get you know, work in the corporate world and they get tired of it and they want to be able to reach the local people. Right. So that's what it's about.

Jason 23:21

Yeah, I think that that's very true, yeah.

Melanie 23:25

It is, you can kind of get a cubicle brain. Um, you know, if you're maybe too much in one setting. And you're right, a lot of people that go from uh big corporate, you know, um kind of make the leap into some small business and stuff like that because it is it's like I need to breathe differently.

Jason 23:51

Yeah.

Melanie 23:52

You know, it's it's it's kind of a choose your heart because it's not like it's easier to be nine to five or whatever in the corporate world or you know, to have a shift. Um versus you know, of course, your time when you're in small business is 24-7.

Micahel Vaughan 24:11

Yeah.

Melanie 24:11

But also your time is still yours, so it's like, yes, I work 24-7. I you choose when. But then there's often times where there's a those moments of okay, but I can go and and just you know run up to the school and and see my kids play and come back, you know, that kind of thing. So it does give you that a little bit of leeway, even though the time is 24-7, you know. So it you kind of have um you can make that for yourself.

Jason 24:40

Right.

Melanie 24:40

And so it's kind of again a choose your heart, it it's constant, but at the same time, you also get to make it.

Jason 24:48

Right. Yeah, yeah, that that flexibility is there, but you're still putting in the work, you know, you know, same number of hours, if not more, but you get to choose when you're gonna do it because Right.

Melanie 25:00

I mean, you're coming in on Saturday to meet with a customer that needs to be here on a Saturday.

Jason 25:05

So, you know, it's like let's make it happen. It's fine, you know, that works out.

Melanie 25:08

Um sometimes it doesn't, but you know, when it does, it's like, you know, might as well get that you know, bend over backwards again for the customer's nest you know, needs.

Jason 25:19

Sure, but like you said, in the same vein, if our kids have a program at school or something like that, hey, I'm closing up early and going, you know, but you put those hours in elsewhere. Right.

Micahel Vaughan 25:30

So oftentimes nobody sees those owls.

Jason 25:34

No, they don't. Right.

Melanie 25:35

They'll see you out when you like decide to take a lunch, but they won't see the Yeah.

Jason 25:39

I noticed you were there.

Melanie 25:40

It's like they won't see you at eight o'clock at night when well you last night. Just last night. Yeah. Sometimes at eight o'clock at night, you've got to just go ahead and and get something finished.

Micahel Vaughan 25:49

Yeah, many a times you leave early and you know, you have to go home late that night and do paperwork, or I've had to come back down here and take care of the smoker and or clean stuff or fix stuff or repair. Oh yeah. Um, you know, it's not a or prep for the next hour week. It's it's um it's a lifestyle, it's a something that you have to adapt to and and make the change, and it's kind of what you signed up for when you took ownership of it. Right.

Melanie 26:21

You don't really get to kind of hang the hat and walk away. Yeah. Right. There is no walking away.

Micahel Vaughan 26:29

I often tell people, you know, you work and get a paycheck, you know. Um we're working. Right. Hopefully we'll get one one day, but you know, we're we're working and trying to establish something here.

Melanie 26:41

We don't work, we don't eat.

Jason 26:43

It's like, hey boss, can I take the day off? It's like, yeah, but who's gonna do this?

Micahel Vaughan 26:47

Yeah, right?

Jason 26:48

I try to ask myself off for sometimes and it's like well, I suddenly get this done, but you know, I mean it's its own animal. I mean it um and yes, you were talking about the challenges and you choose your hard, and yes, um it it's terrifying because it's really month, it's month by month. It is and you know, panic sets in sometimes like what if everyone stopped coming and it's like, oh my god, we would start. You know, but you know, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God every month. It's like, you know, people are sent in your way, they're thankful you're there, you're thankful they're there too. Yes, and it's like it's a service, right? Exactly. And it's just just month by month, and it's just like you know, so which is also a really nice thing.

Melanie 27:32

You know, it's with small business and and customers need to remember that. Yeah, we're happy to see you.

Jason 27:39

Right.

Melanie 27:40

We want to see you.

Jason 27:41

That's right.

Melanie 27:42

We're gonna put a big smile on our face because we want you in there. We you know, and and some people get, well, I didn't want to bother you. It's like you're not bothering me. It's right, you're you're a customer. I want you here.

Micahel Vaughan 27:53

You can't be here if you're not there.

Melanie 27:54

If a customer, right? If I don't have customers, I don't have a company. Right.

Jason 27:58

Not only from a business standpoint, from an aura standpoint. How often have we talked about that having the energy of people coming by? And you know, we'll have someone come by, like, can you look at this and all that? It'll take you five minutes. And it's like, all right, just you're you're fine. Just go, no, I gotta pay you. It was five minutes. It it was a pleasure to see you. And you know, in the energy of other people, it's boring working a job and nobody coming by, you know. So you got that too, you know. Again, we are we are people of energy and people that you know um we we interact, we feed off each other. Yeah, right.

Micahel Vaughan 28:32

We need to be human to one another. That's some sometimes we are in there, we're cooking, we're preparing, we're you know, it's like, has anybody come in yet? What's going on? Right. And so, you know, we try to market or make a post or let people know, you know, hey, we're here, we're fixing lunch or whatever, and then you know, the the floodgates open sometimes. You know it's like thank you. I know, and uh, you know, you you really are appreciative to see customers come in and support you, and um, you know, that's that's what it's about. Um, just making sure that you cultivate those relationships, keeping the customers coming and also getting the word out for new people coming. Yeah, you know, that's that's really what small businesses depend on.

Jason 29:20

Exactly.

Melanie 29:21

Right, and marketing can be very difficult with small business. We don't get the big budget.

Jason 29:27

Yeah, an algorithm doesn't help us as much.

Melanie 29:30

Right. The algorithms can kind of fight us sometimes. Exactly.

Jason 29:33

You gotta pay to play when it comes to social media.

Melanie 29:35

We're also getting into, again, some of the AI tools and things like that. We're big gets small and and we've got access just as much as anybody else.

Jason 29:45

It's just that's that's an interesting angle, yeah.

Melanie 29:48

Well, you know, but the technology is adapting to some more freelance or smaller approaches. Right. Well, we can Always use that in the big business in the small business world.

Jason 30:02

Right. And it's harder to adopt in a big business because you got, okay, well, what's your plan? How are we going to integrate this? How you know what's that going to do to this department that's now handling this? You know, does that mean we need to cut these positions? And you know what I mean? All the red tape. Right. We're able to say, hey, this is a new product, this is a new feature. Let's leverage that. And then within a day or two, it's like, now I'm using it. So you can jump on something much faster.

Melanie 30:26

We can. And with what's coming out, you know, with again AI tools, social media, stuff like that, we can we can utilize that just as much. Um again, algorithms do tend to um shut us down in the smaller industries, but um, you gotta pay to play for a lot of this stuff.

Micahel Vaughan 30:45

Yeah, you do, yeah.

Melanie 30:46

You know, there it's it's getting there. I think there is um creative ways to get marketing out there. And um and and word of mouth is obviously always gonna be the most important in a community, but oh always, yeah. Um word of mouth, along with your web presence, is still part of it.

Jason 31:06

Yeah, I mean, we've been talking to a lot of people recently about the AI tools and everything. We just made a post the other day, and I'm I'm not gonna make a platform on it at the moment, but um when you're in a small business, oftentimes you can very quickly see what changes are happening and then be able to dig in deep and um be able to use it. And so then it's kind of like, hey, look, we got something new going on here, you know. A lot of larger companies it takes a lot more time, and of course, understanding your clientele, you're able to figure out, well, this will work for you as opposed to some bloated ecosystem idea of big corporate, you know, it's kind of harder to adapt that to what you need, whereas you can say, all right, we just need to tweak this and you'll be good, you know. So yeah, that's true.

Melanie 31:52

So learn looking into more creative uses for um a web presence with small business is um kind of kind of our bread and butter and where we where we like to shine. So Yeah.

Jason 32:07

And and and again, I think part of that advantage is we know our customer base. We're not just picking a template out of the air saying, Oh, this might be good because you told me this and this. It's like, all right, I find what you do, I know what you're trying to do and everything. This is how I would present it. Because you know, what we kind of put ourselves into the design of the website because we wanted to really feature them in a good light. Right. You know, it it's almost like you put yourself in their position and you build it. And um, you know, there are times where I mean, very infrequently do we put something together where they go. That's not where I'm going. Oftentimes you're like, this is how I would have done it if I could, but that's why I hired you. And it's like, you know, I'm not gonna work on my car. I'll hire someone to do that too. You know, it's we all have you're working on your business, and that's where your time is. You rely on us for that. Just like I rely on other, you know, I don't cut my own meat, I don't, you know, all the you know I rely on I rely on you, sir. Rely on the people that know what they're doing. When my kids are begging for a steak, I'm coming across the street. So I don't have a cow. Would be cool to have a cow though. But I would need both. I'll need one familiar.

Melanie 33:24

You would name the cow, and then once you name it, you can't kill it.

Jason 33:28

Yeah, right. Can't name the cows. You can't name it now. Oh, but it's petty. Yeah, so um I think we're gonna get into something else here in a little bit, but before we go there, um if Michael, do you have anything like that might be more seasonal in the next month or two that you might be offering?

Micahel Vaughan 33:53

Or well, um I trying to lead the witness, but we we posted a lot. We've had we have a lot of followers on Facebook, and we try to post and let them know, hey, we're um trying to do Thanksgiving orders.

Jason 34:06

Right.

Micahel Vaughan 34:06

If there's anything you need, we typically try to do it within two weeks, and then as soon as Thanksgiving hits uh probably next week or the week before, we're gonna start, you know, with Christmas, and we get a lot of prime rhea, bony and tie-ins and a lot of seafood orders and things that makes sense coming up for Christmas, and you know, with the markets changing, we have to get pricing on a daily basis. So you have to try to get it as closer to the time they need it because prices you know fluctuate and change. So um, yes, we do have you know some Thanksgiving orders in place, and then we'll start with Christmas with again the prime rib uh bone in we tie them and and then we'll have things where people want um for Christmas parties. Right. Things like that. And so we we would need to have that um coming up as soon as possible to order stuff so we can make sure we have it in a timely um manner, but also that we can get access to it because we're not the only people ordering yeah, you're not the only one begging for it, so you gotta get gotta get in to get it.

Jason 35:15

That's right. So cool. So I guess anyone planning anything, just you know, check out the uh Lakeside Butcher Shop Facebook page or stop in and visit and talk and try to get that all squared away. Yeah, and I know we'll be able to do that.

Melanie 35:30

Small business, what what you're looking for, yeah. You can go ahead and stop in and ask.

Jason 35:35

Yeah, exactly.

Micahel Vaughan 35:36

We're there to help people in the community. You know, we oftentimes ask what can we do, what can we provide, what is it that you want? Um, you know, and it's uh I told um Adriana that works for us, I said sometimes we should call it, well, you should do this. We hear that all the time, but you know, we're asking what can we help you with, what can we provide more of in a community? And so we want to accommodate people, we want to be able to support the local whatever it is, ball teams and different things, and the only way we can do that is the support of the community. Um, and so um that's the heart of the small business. Yeah, you know, without the people's support, you really don't have a business. And um we want to pour back into the community, we want to show up at events and sponsor things and and we want to do business with other small businesses, and so yes, so we can kind of network together and help each other and um grow. And and that's just a part of it. Sometimes we're limited because of the traffic flow. We're limited because of uh people will wait till the last minute, you know, and then once it's gone, it's gone. Yeah, you know, so um we're open four or five days a week, and oftentimes people will wait till Saturday. Well, we're closing on Saturday evening, yeah. Shut down for three days. So a lot of things may be out of stock, or we've sold it because you know, so we we try to put it out there on Tuesday and Wednesdays to let people know, hey, what can we do? We have this, we're you know, fully stocked. If there's more product of this that you need, or if there's something that to help you keep from driving so far, yeah, and we can both benefit from it, let us know what we can do. Because that's what uh being a part of the community is is helping each other out. Right.

Jason 37:37

I agree. Beautifully said, yeah.

Melanie 37:39

Absolutely.

Jason 37:42

So, you want to get go into our last segment, you think?

Melanie 37:46

Yeah, just a little teeny tiny game, but of course.

Jason 37:50

We'll let Michael know what's going on here.

Melanie 37:52

Um sometimes we play games.

Jason 37:54

Sometimes we play games on the show, yep. And uh this one in particular, because our conversation had to do with you know business and everything, um, if everything goes according to plan, um our AI guest host, Miles, will give us the name of a slogan of a business, and then we'll try to guess, you know, whose slogan that is. So he reads the slogan. He reads the slogan, we guess. So we'll get that fired up here. Alright, Miles, let's play the slogan game.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 38:29

Absolutely. Let's jump into it. So here's how we'll roll. I'll give you one slogan at a time. No commentary, no stage directions, just a slogan. And then you and Melanie can guess away. We'll keep it fresh each round. So here comes your first slogan. Just do it. All right, have fun guessing.

Jason 38:47

Alright, so now we can talk. I mean, so just do it. We I think we pretty much know that one. Yeah.

Melanie 38:54

So overly easy.

Jason 38:56

Right, or that's overly easy, yep.

Melanie 38:57

So sometimes he's really I know.

Jason 39:01

All right, Miles. That's Nike.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 39:05

You got it. Nailed that first one right away. Definitely a classic from Nike. All right, I'll line up the next logan whenever you're ready to keep rolling.

Jason 39:13

Go ahead, let's go.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 39:17

All right, let's keep it rolling then. Here's your next logan: the ultimate driving machine. Go ahead and take your best guess.

Melanie 39:26

Well, definitely harder, I'm not sure.

Jason 39:29

It's a car. It's not GM, it's a classic.

Melanie 39:41

I don't know why I haven't pictured Nissan in my head.

Jason 39:44

I think it's an ultimate driving machine.

Melanie 39:48

Maybe because they have an Ultima? Isn't that a Nissan?

Jason 39:52

I'm thinking I'm I'm leaning toward like BMW.

Melanie 39:56

Ah, okay.

Jason 39:58

Which is weird. I'm not gonna explain why, but uh IBM was a business machine, it's a BMW. I could be mixing this up, or I could be like that could have been my way of like storing this.

Melanie 40:11

For it just as much as anything.

Jason 40:13

Okay, alright, well. Alright, is it is it BMW?

Miles (AI Guest Host) 40:20

Right on the money. Oh, yep. That's BMW's famous slogan.

Micahel Vaughan 40:23

Okay.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 40:24

You're two for two. You got it. Here comes the next one. The slogan is think different. Alright, let's see if we can get this one too.

Jason 40:33

Think different, shoot. Because their logo, there was a letter or something that was different too. Is that Nissan?

Melanie 40:42

I'm feeling like this is in the tech industry, shouldn't we? Why this? I was thinking like Apple or Okay, no, that might be Apple, actually.

Jason 40:52

Yeah, because of the whole idea of like creativity and they were going off of that. Um, we'll say Apple.

Melanie 40:58

Sure.

Jason 40:58

Alright. Is it Apple?

Miles (AI Guest Host) 41:06

Absolutely. You got it again. Yeah, hey, good job, baby.

Jason 41:09

Good job.

Melanie 41:10

I got the tech and you didn't.

Jason 41:14

Right? Yeah, Miles, you hear that? My wife said that she got it and I didn't.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 41:21

I did hear that. Sounds like Melanie's on a roll today. Hey, a little friendly competition just makes the game more fun, right? Keep it up, you two.

Jason 41:29

All right, next one.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 41:32

All right, let's roll right into the next one. Here's your next slogan. Have it your way.

Jason 41:39

Oh, well. Yeah, Burger King. Have it your way.

Melanie 41:48

Yeah, okay. Yeah.

Jason 41:49

Yeah. Restaurant Burger King. Right. All right, that's Burger King.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 41:56

You got it again.

Jason 41:58

All right.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 41:58

That's definitely Burger King's classic slogan. You're on a winning streak here. Just let me know when you're ready for the next one.

Jason 42:04

All right, let's go.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 42:08

All right. Next up it is. Here comes your next slogan. Melt in your mouth, not in your hands. I took a guess and let's see. You guessed this one.

Jason 42:16

Mm's. Yeah, MM's. From the Mars Company, one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a cool guy.

Melanie 42:24

That's been their slogan a long time, isn't it?

Jason 42:26

Yeah. Have you seen the uh I know this off topic and everyone else can listen to our conversation right now because they have to, but the um the Food That Made America program on the History Channel? Oh. Look it up, it's incredible. Like, as an example, the reason why I brought it up is you see how Hershey's and Mars came together and um as a business move because of the MMs. I think it was in France that he was saw a coded candy and he was, you know, it was a proposition. So you get but they do so well with the casting and the history of it that you really feel like you're watching entrepreneurs and and like the development of stuff that you know today we take for granted. Like we said, it's been a slogan for a long time, but it's like you watch it in the making. It's really cool. So anyway, and for anyone out there, I recommend it. Yep, that that's for you too.

Melanie 43:12

The food that made America.

Jason 43:14

Yeah. All right, give us another one.

Melanie 43:18

You didn't answer.

Jason 43:20

Oh, we never answered. I'm sorry. All right, we said that was MM's.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 43:27

And you are absolutely right. That is indeed M's. No words at all. I'm just here to keep the slogans rolling and the fun going. Just let me know when you're ready for the next one.

Jason 43:36

All right, let's go.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 43:40

Perfect. Let's keep it going. Here's your next slogan. Maybe just one with it. Maybe it's Milly fill in the rest and get the right. Exactly. You got it. It's definitely Maybelline. You both are on a roll. Just let me know when you're up for the next one.

Jason 44:00

All right, let's do one more. Let's do a bonus round.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 44:06

Absolutely. Let's do a bonus round to top it off. Here's your final slogan for the day. The happiest place on earth. Alright, have fun guessing this last one.

Jason 44:18

The happiest place on earth.

Melanie 44:20

Disneyland?

Jason 44:21

It's definitely not Walmart.

Melanie 44:23

It's definitely not Walmart.

Jason 44:25

It'd have to be. It'd have to be Is it Disney? Yeah, I think I think it is Disneyland. Or Disney. Disney in general. We'll go with that and then we'll stop on this one. So all right. We're saying it is Disneyland or Disney World.

Miles (AI Guest Host) 44:47

Absolutely spot on. Yeah, that's the famous Disney slogan. Whether it's Disneyland or Disney World, you've got it right. Great job. And that was a fun bonus round. Thanks for playing.

Jason 44:57

Alright, thank you. Have a good one. Alright. So, well, that was fun. And um and and again, uh Michael, thank you so much for being on our podcast.

Micahel Vaughan 45:11

It was a pleasure. It was an honor to be here. And uh I enjoyed this. This was good.

Jason 45:16

Yeah, so um just uh as a reminder to everyone, you know, just try to support, you know, you see a lot about support local. Um just it as the season is coming up for gifts and all that, just uh take a look out there and you know, before before going online, I know it's convenient, but just drive around, go online, try to find who's nearby.

Melanie 45:40

And don't forget extra expense when it comes to shipping. Oh yeah. And extra expense when it comes to gas.

Jason 45:47

Yeah.

Melanie 45:48

So when we when we talk about what is more expensive, always remember when you're shopping local, you're saving in shipping and in gas.

Jason 45:56

Well, I know if we go out of shipping.

Melanie 45:57

Sometimes those little extra bits of savings, why not, you know, go go into your local shops. Yeah. And and, you know, even if it's just a little bit more, you just save by not going out out of town.

Jason 46:10

Yeah, that's true. Because if you go down, you know, say Richmond Raleigh or somewhere, you know you're gonna spend at least 200 bucks in gas, and by the time you're done shopping, you gotta eat.

Melanie 46:20

Right.

Jason 46:21

And you're gonna have to go out to eat in the restaurant, and I mean, I ain't against eating. I get that.

Melanie 46:25

And if you've got kids, you're you're eating more than once.

Jason 46:27

But here's a huge thing you can do. You can buy steaks or whatever from Michael, have them ready, um, go around town, shop, come back home, and fix your own steak exactly how you want it, and it's cheaper.

Micahel Vaughan 46:39

Yeah, we have gift cards also. Ooh, gift cards. Yes. So if people want to call and order stuff, we'll have it cut for you when you get there to save time. And we have a lot of that. In the summertime, we have customers that when they fly in or drive here, they will call us and place an order, and they don't have to wait. They know that we have it cut, packed, wrapped, and that makes sense, and it's all bagged and ready for them. It's just a matter of paying and they're out the door.

Melanie 47:10

There you go, people. You didn't even have to wait.

Micahel Vaughan 47:12

Yeah.

Jason 47:13

I know that's awesome.

Micahel Vaughan 47:14

So we're here for you know, we're here to help people and make it convenient um for everybody, and that that's what it's about. So we want to provide the best customer service we can, the best products we can, and to make it convenient for everyone. So we're here, um we don't really close for but Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Jason 47:35

Right.

Micahel Vaughan 47:35

So I think it's only two days we've closed since I've on the place, and it's probably only two days we'll close this year. It's Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.

Jason 47:44

Okay. Well, again, thanks for having. Um, thanks for being on the show. And um I think we're going to wrap things up here, and please follow us on your favorite platform that you know helps get this program out. And um visit winternetweb.com. You can check out um some of the merchandise we got that we've actually had a couple people come by that they didn't know we had. We haven't been pushing it a lot, but we got we haven't, unfortunately.

Melanie 48:16

We talked about marketing with our own, you know, sometimes we don't get a chance to market ourselves. Um, that's true.

Jason 48:22

And and we've just been busy, but but from what you've heard, a lot of people said that these are gifts for people that they don't know what to get for.

Melanie 48:31

Right, especially in the tech industry. Exactly.

Jason 48:34

They're fun little pieces of jewelry, exactly, made out of circuit boards and stuff like that.

Melanie 48:40

For male and female, we've got them.

Jason 48:42

We've got cufflings too. We got and actually we do make them so that they could be a fridge ornament or ornament, I'm thinking Christmas, a fridge magnet as well. Right. So, you know, that um is an option as well. So, all right. Well, I think that's it for today. So unplugging for now, but always stay connected.