#25 - Nate Hamilton

If You Denton Know Nate Hamilton, now you do.

Nate Hamilton is the founder and owner of 144 Print House and Race Studio in Denton, Texas. A former Formula Drift professional driver, he competed at the sport's highest level through 2017 before shifting his focus to design, screen printing, and embroidery. His shop serves motorsports brands, YouTubers, and local Denton businesses alike. 

Key Topics Covered

• What drifting is, how it is scored, and why it is closer to skateboarding than racing
• Nate's path from skate parks in Rowlett to the Formula Drift pro circuit
• The real cost of competing, from tire budgets to six figure season funding
• Why he walked away from the pro class in 2017 to build a business
• How the "Endless Search for Tires" tour turned a sponsorship gap into an opportunity
• The origin of the number 144 and the friend it honors
• Lessons on scaling a shop through unpredictable demand
• Building a team culture where the right person is in the right seat

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Timestamps

00:00 Meet Nate Hamilton and 144 Print House and Race Studio
 02:26 Skateboards, screen printing, and the road to drifting
 03:11 What drifting is and how it gets judged
 07:06 Inside a Formula Drift race weekend
 10:35 Why he stepped away from the pro class
 12:15 The Endless Search for Tires campaign
 14:19 The story behind the number 144
 16:31 A chance meeting on the courthouse lawn
 21:15 Apex Fest and what to expect
 26:54 Every day is Friday and building the right team

Guest Links / Resources

• Website: 144racing.com
• Shop: 1700 Shady Oaks, Denton, TX
• Event: Apex Fest, September 5, free to attend. Schedule details at 144racing.com
• Social: @144racing
  
  

Denton Highlights

• Hannah's Off the Square
• Queenie's Steakhouse
• Harvest House
• East Side Social Club
• The Denton Square and Courthouse Lawn
• Denton Day of the Dead Festival
• Texas Motor Speedway (nearby)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Pro Drifter, turn printer, still racing, still creating, and doing it all out of a shop right here in Denton. Founder and owner of 144 Print House and Race Studio. Today my guest is Nate Hamilton. Denton's got it all. The food, the music, the art, and of course the people. And behind every corner, there's a story worth sharing. And that's what this podcast is all about. Denton's Best, one conversation at a time. I'm Brad, and this is If You Didn't Know, Now You Know. Welcome back to another episode of If You Didn't Know, really excited to have Nate Hamilton here in studio with us. Nate, welcome to the studio.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Dude, what an awesome place, man. This is epic. Thank you. Right in the heart of downtown. Stoked.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Right here. Here we are. That's right. Well, we we we're really excited to have you in. You you kind of uh, you know, we've been talking a little bit about some space that you're evaluating and maybe needing more of, but uh really excited to connect with you on a more personal level, learn about what you're doing and kind of show off what the all the cool stuff you're doing here in Denton. So that's what we're we're trying to do with this podcast. So excited to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Dude, absolutely. Yeah, I've seen the socials and I thought, man, this is like a core Denton group that's on your on your stage. And uh yeah, thanks for having me. Thought it would be cool to just shed some light on 144 and our history with Denton.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Well, let's do it. Well, before we dive into 144 and and kind of your background, tell us where you where you grew up.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, grew up in uh Rawlett, Texas. So uh born and raised in Texas. Okay. Uh families from Michigan, um, spent some time in Florida with racing and then moved back to Denton or moved to Denton in uh 2020 era.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

So right when COVID hit, found a home here, and honestly, everything took off from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

So the business, and and we'll dive into the business a little bit, but that started in Denton in 2017-ish?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, like I definitely spent some time in Wiley. So our first location was Wiley, Texas. Um, you know, the theory was kind of not moving back to my hometown after leaving.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Close but not quite there.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Exactly, exactly. So felt a little bit fresh instead of just returning to home, um, and then got guided out here to Denton and uh really fell in love with the city and just felt that it was so creative and so energetic when it comes to creating, you know?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, okay. So grew up, did you grow up racing? Is that I mean your hobby, or what did you grow up doing? What was your hobby?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yeah, so I mean, you know, on a timeline it was like skateboards, screen printing, cars, drifting, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Okay, okay. You were screen printing before you were ever racing and drifting, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, screen printing and drifting kind of came together near the same time frame. Um, you know, and it was it was the opportunity of a job that was a little more lenient than a nine to five, so I could stack up work and then I could go drift on the weekends. Um, and that really just took off and and kind of changed the course of my life. I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

All right, well, we gotta we gotta go ahead and address what the heck is drifting for those of some of us that may not be totally familiar with drifting. What does that what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Yeah, yeah. I mean, drifting is such a unique motorsports, right? It's kind of the X games of motorsports, if you will, in terms of just there's, you know, we're sliding cars, we're burning the rear tires, so we're constantly in a counter steer with the rear wheel spinning, yeah, and essentially the tracks are set up to where there's rear clips and front clips, and the sports dynamic is based off of a top 32 bracket style, right? So 32 head-to-head battle turns a 16 to 8 to final.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

So and they're scored based on just kind of how how cool your tricks are, your turns are, or is it not it's not speed and distance, really?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yeah, so it you know, some of the criteria changes, right? Like there has been speed in the past, but now currently it's it's your line and your angle and your commitment. So, yes, you know, we may be sliding the same turn or drifting the same turn, but how on throttle, how much angle, and how close to the wall are you? Uh we are either scraping or inches away from chaos at all times, and that's how you get the highest score, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Like basically like a snowboarding kind of sort of similar to that in the way and the tricks they do, and kind of the further they the harder they push those limits, the the better the scoring is.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Exactly. Yeah, it really is. It's such a yeah, snowboarding, skateboarding, you know, uh judged with three judges, right? So someone's style, line, angle, like uh there's there's those dynamics there. So it isn't quite who crosses the finish line first. Yeah, and it's definitely not a race, it is much more of a head-to-head battle. And yeah, our sport's always evolving, and uh, you know, I found multiple ways after leaving the pro class to to evolve with the sport. I see.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Cool. So we were you doing tr some traditional racing before you got into the drifting?

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Funny enough, no.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

No, that's where you start you jump right into the drifting.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, just like you know, dad didn't get me into cars. Uh basically from the skate park, guys were sliding cars around in the dirt. What is going on? Wait, it's raining, let's go to the industrial park. Yeah, you know, really it was it was a very slow pattern of just like having fun that turned into kind of some pressure from a mechanic shop that said, like, go to this drift event. I remember I went to the drift event, uh, qualified first, finished fourth, and realized my life is gonna change forever, and I'm gonna pursue drifting.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Very cool. So, and and there's a pro circuit for this.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yep. The the pro circuit right now is called Formula Drift. Um, I think, you know, don't quote me, I think it's going on like 20 years. Um and yeah, it's like the place to, it's the place to be. So that is our pro circuit.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

How how many how many kind of informal or just practice runs had you done before your first event? I mean, is there a real opportunity to kind of practice it like that? Or I mean, obviously just out in the like you say, an industrial park or something, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

That is uh uh a good question, right? It's like drifting takes so much to do it that practice is limited.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Um, so you know, there's grassroots events like lower horsepower cars, smaller tire, uh, and you can get, you know, a hundred runs in a day. As you work your way up and you gain power and you gain tire, you know, we're we're killing a set of tires in two laps.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

So, you know, our tire allotment for the year is like well over two to three hundred tires that we're getting from sponsors, and so it can be quite the the hill to climb at the pro level right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah. Wow, and who's paying for all those tires? The sponsors give them to you, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

In theory, yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And that's where really telling a story and learning marketing and learning how to carry yourself in that style of motorsport is what sets us apart. Like, right, if a racer is fast and you know the kids fast, you can bet on that. Yeah, you know, and then you find maybe less marketing. But in drifting, having a story and having a you know, a brand is really how we're securing sponsorship.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So walk us through a kind of a weekend at Formula Drifting event. What what is it? I mean, is it every day? I mean, three days, is it two-day deals where you where you just have multiple races? Yeah, you you say it kind of is a tournament style, so it narrows down.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah, so for all my you know, fans and OGs watching right now, it's like they know that my last season was 2017 when I left Formula Drift and I went to create my business. So like I've been out of it for a bit, still follow it, obviously. So usually nowadays you're you're getting to the track on that Tuesday to Wednesday, you're setting up your pit, you're getting your team assembled, you know, people are operating within four to eight crew members at this stage. Um, and yeah, you're walking through qualifying, you're walk like sorry, you're walking through practice, qualifying, um, and then your top 32, 16, 8, 4, and carrying on. So it is for sure just shy of a week currently that it takes to run one of the events from travel to get home is is about a week's time at a single race.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

I'll be honest, man, didn't didn't even know that world really existed. So that's super cool. Where where are the lot, I mean, these happen across the country or where Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

That circuit starts in Long Beach, ends in Long Beach. Um, they go up to you know the New Jersey area, Florida, Atlanta, uh what is it, Salt Lake City? Yeah, I think, yeah. So uh there's eight professional rounds and four pro spec rounds. So similar to Supercross 250, 450. Gotcha. There's some stages of the of the class, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Well, so uh last question kind of on that. Just in your as your before you retired from the pro circuit, what what's kind of a highlight of your career?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Man, at that point, you know, um, you know, I think our sport was really firing off to where there was like 70 60 to 70 drivers per race. So being able to get through a 32 and make it to a 16 for for my skill set and my mental skill set at that time was great. And so I remember I did four of those moments in a row on my last season. Um, so just kind of walking through, qualifying well, getting through 32 and winning battles, and then getting into that top 16 ceremony for your top eight battle, like those were high points for me. As again, you know, this was 10 plus years ago, so I was a little younger and a little more naive than I than I am now.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Well, so probably a little stigma that this is a pretty reckless and kind of dangerous, you know, job, profession, or hobby, so to speak. Is that is that true? Or I mean, because you're kind of going at a slow enough speed, maybe is it not that not that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Um, man, you know, I think it's it's definitely pretty gnarly, right? So we're running Hans devices, six-point harnesses, um, and yeah, you at that at that level, all the boys are pretty prepared to wreck every every single lap, and and that's the commitment you have to have. And you know, if you're on the sidebar and you're Googling what is drifting right now, and you're watching cars be an inch apart at 75 miles an hour on on a concrete wall, it's very normal for us.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

So uh lot of hard work side by side in that one-on-one competition right here.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

I mean, you have to almost mirror the car ahead of you to win these days, and yeah, we're our entry speeds are shy of 100, and averages are probably in the 50s, and so it is pretty dangerous. And we're wrecking a lot. I mean, I'm I'm constantly taking the car out, wrecking the car, bringing the car home. You know what I mean? It's kind of the run of show.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Wow. Oh, all right. So so eventually, though, you're kind of like, all right, let me let me move past this and back into the screen printing and marketing, and that's kind of what the the 144 racing is. So talk talk to us about what this business is, when did you make that shift?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

And and yeah, you know, I think at some point in my career I kind of just matured a little bit and and I thought about you know my future and my family, and like obviously I didn't have a wife or a family at that time, right? Um, but I was just like on a race team and I was watching kind of you know the athletes come and go, and and I thought to myself, like, oh, I'm I'm an athlete that is gonna come and go.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And so if I put the next few years into this and and I'm not on the team anymore, like what do I have? Right. And so, you know, there's a level of of focus that's needed in drifting from a operational standpoint, and at the age of my pro seasons, I didn't have that mindset as a business owner, and so I really struggled with like I we talked about like top 16, top 16, top 16, top 16. Like, yes, I'm getting better results than I ever have in my past, but at the same time, I don't feel like they're headed in the right direction. So, long story short, I thought to myself, man, I could just like take a year off, I'll go back to my screen printing ways, yeah, I'll start screen printing for some of my sponsors, and I'll get right back into drifting. And uh man, it was much more difficult than that, you know?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, yeah. Never got back into the drifting.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Well, I never returned to pro yet. Right, okay. I still hold now, I still think about it so often, and um, you know, I I have I've acquired like way more partnerships and sponsorships and way more deals. And so to sum it up, it's like when I did get back into drifting at a at a heavy level, I created tours. So I basically learned how to market and speak, and I would say, you know, to my top five or six sponsors, like, where do you want me to go? Like, let's design my schedule for how you and I feel versus following a certain schedule. Yeah, and man, that took off like the first year when I did not have a tire sponsor. I thought of the endless search for summer. If you've ever seen that surfing poster, and so I called it the endless search for tires, and everyone was like, Well, what is this? And I'm like, I need tires. Yeah, and so I marketed a whole tour off of needing tires, and by the time that season ended, I had a full-blown tire sponsor.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

So just telling story and marketing is what I found when I left drifting, and it's been tough to return to the pro class and balance my screen printing business.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

So are you doing obviously a lot of screen printing, but are you are you helping other drivers now in their whole marketing campaigns? And is that part of the agency or how yeah?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I mean, we're still definitely on more of a design to print package. So, like, you know, for uh full-blown race trailers and their suits and you know, their hero cards and their t-shirts, and like yeah, we will for sure style out an athlete um in a professional manner. Um but I wouldn't say we're we're not um in between any of their sponsors.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

You're not, yeah, you're not creating their content. Exactly. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

So just more on the brand side, like using and really this all started with I had to design my shirts, I had to design my car, I had to design my hero cards. Like everything I was doing for myself operating as a professional drifter, like a light bulb clicked, and I was like, oh wait, I could do this for you. Right. So now let me put, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

So do you do you in addition to that, you have kind of your own brand that you you're you're still selling and promoting? I mean, is it four kind of thing? I'm struggling, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Like, like one four four, you know, truthfully comes from my race number. That's your race number, okay. Yeah, so um I had a friend who passed away. His favorite number was Brent Favre, number four. Yeah, he loved number four, and when I originally went to my first drift competition, I thought I would put a four and a four together and be 44. And there was our already my boy Ryan Turrick, he's mobile one, Red Bull, like full semi. I'm a kid on in an open bed trailer, and he has 44.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Yeah, and I'm like You weren't getting that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, I'm like, what am I gonna do? So I thought of Travis Westrana with the 199, and I thought I'll put a one before it and be one four-four. And the boys at the box office were like, there's no three digits in drifting, and I begged them and they allowed it. And so I think we became the first three-digit number in drifting 15 years ago, you know? Very cool. Yeah, so it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

That's really cool. So, so drive and then you do beyond just drivers, right? I mean, what other merchandise are you doing? Screen printing embroidery for anybody?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yeah, exactly. Yep, yep, 100%, man. Like our doors open here in Denton, yeah, coffee shops, local businesses, you know, fence builders, lawn care, like you're doing it all, yeah. Yeah, we got it all. Everything is everything is welcomed. Um, you know, it's been nice with the motorsports community. We haven't comp have we haven't been in large competition with local business. A lot of our work is from out of state, right? Um, just because of our network and our marketing. But um, yeah, we get some cool local brands, you know, in the Dallas area, skate shops, and so it's been fun.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yeah. So yeah, I imagine it is a lot of word of mouth of just kind of one one motorsports guy saying to the other, where'd you get that? You know, yeah, you gotta call Nate to hook you up and do your stuff.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, and when we started that that uh resource in the motorsports community just wasn't like it wasn't cool, right? Like where you print your shirts, it was like who cares? Yeah, right. And so I think that hopefully our brand has had an impact uh that has made people excited to print with us and excited to be proud of where they're creating their products, you know?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah. So has Denton been a good good place for you on that front? Right?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we I love Denton, man. You know, me and my wife, everything is kind of fallen into place. We used to drive up here and just be around, and I remember a funny story, you know, we're sitting on the lawn, uh, not to shout out myself here, but like we're literally sitting on the lawn and a random person comes up and is like, yo, Nate. And I'm like, well, hello. And they're like, You're the drifter. And I'm like, Yeah. And I'm like, This is such a cool town. And they're like, Well, there's a a loft available next to me. And we're like, what? And literally, like within a month, we moved in to the loft right here on the square behind East Side. Okay, and like just from a random connection, like just that was on the at the courthouse line?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah, on the courthouse line. Okay, yeah, just like recognizing you.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Just hanging out with my lady on a Sunday, and someone recognized me and had a space available, and we moved in.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

We were here. That's what got you here. Okay. Hey, whatever it takes, man. Now that we got you, we're keeping you. Okay. Let's go. Let's stay here forever. So you you get you do some events and and obviously you do some drifting, kind of, and I don't know how much you can talk about that at your shop or behind your shop, but tell us how you still do some of that and what what kind of events you got coming up.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah, yeah. I mean, um, you know, what's so cool about our little industrial park is I again got in at such an amazing time for the complex. I had a business mentor, you know, and and basically there was a point in time where I was literally chalking out and measuring for an oven, a press, and a and a lift.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

And, you know, this guy's all you were gonna try to make room for you.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Yeah, I'm just like, okay, I need I need my press here, I need my dryer here, and I need my lift here. And it's like, you know, suddenly there's there's a uh a guy showing up and he's like, What are you up to? And I'm like, Oh, I'm putting, you know, this press here and this race car here. And he was just like, I've never seen this before, you know, just like what it what what's going on in here? And so uh turns out he ended up owning the complex. Okay. So after months and months of him, you know, kicking my butt as a mentor in business and really teaching me like me getting off of the press and me selling is where my strong suit is. And us, you know, fighting through that time has really elevated the business. So, long story short, at that point in time, I had the full rights to drift the property. And so, as the property has sold, we've kind of just always coined it in like, you know, we drift here, right? And everyone's been cool with it.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, before you buy this, there's something you should know.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Literally, literally. We own this little piece out here.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Yeah, but it's it's I mean, in that sense, you're not out of control and doing anything too crazy back there behind.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

No, and and honestly, it's it's either for marketing, right? Whether we're drifting around a Christmas tree for an ad, yeah, or or we're like testing a car before we travel 24 hours with it. Like it isn't anything uh I would say of just like youth that's just being dumb, right? It's very thoughtful and uh and yeah, we kind of set the staff up on the corners and make sure we watch our eyes on on cars. Right. Yeah, it's like it's safe. It's safe, yeah. Yeah. What uh the cops are listening to this right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah, yeah, it's totally safe. Don't don't no need to come by. Check this out. Yeah. You you mentioned two or three hundred sets of tires a year in the in the pro circuit. Like, what does a set of tires cost if you had to buy them yourself?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

I mean, right, let's just say right around 150 to 200 bucks, depending on the tire you're gonna buy. So yeah, I mean you could easily burn around 400 if you include fuel in like less than a minute. You know, the runs are anywhere from 30 to 40 seconds times that by two, sub two minutes, 400 bucks, gone.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Expensive little sport there.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

It's gnarly, yeah. I mean, from a sponsorship perspective, I think you know, in 2026, we try so hard to gain three, three fifty, four hundred thousand dollars in capital to operate. I mean, with staff, travel, cost of goods, uh, you know, uh recs and and and all of the things you have to fix. Yeah. Um, while also trying to operate. I'm currently in a GR86, so like a newer Toyota platform. So we stay relevant to the parts that are selling, right? So just all of the the bar just goes up and up and up and up. So gotta really put your game face on to get it.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Staying out there doing it, and even though you're not on the pro circuit, probably helps you kind of make some new connections as well and kind of spills over to the business side, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, I mean I think there. Yeah, definitely. Like the t-shirts have complimented the racing and vice versa, right? The racing compliments the business, and yeah, it's like my team always kicks me out of the shop once a month, and they're like, go get out in the world, because when you're out in the world, you bring homework.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

You're selling, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

You know, exactly. ABC.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah, very cool. So uh you mentioned before we jumped on an event that you've got coming up in September to tell us what about what that is.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Yep, yep. September 5th, uh, so it's called Apex Fest, and and you know, thankfully from from uh you know Doug at Rap Scallion, right? So there's local race shops and Crescent, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Um, so just west of Fort Worth. Um there's a whole run-of show with Apex Fest, and essentially it is racing uh meets drifting. So there is two tracks uh and the one four four business gets to kind of operate the drifting side along with Max First. Um so really it's just like we get a full blown racetrack to drift on, and there's a full blown racetrack to race on. There's multiple racing series going on, and there's drifting going on all weekend. Yeah, so it is our like Most relaxed at home event where anyone can pull up, pretty much raise your hand, hop in a drift car, experience drifting, watch drifting all day, watch racing all day, and uh it's free to enter September 5th, man.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So, where do they get where do people get info on that?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, you can follow our socials or um um I'm trying to think of the website exactly, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Maybe we'll we'll put that in the show notes. How about that? There you go.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yeah, it'll be on 144 racing.com underneath the schedule. Yeah, it'll be on there as well. So all right.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

That and that's where everybody finds you on the socials, 144 Racing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, tune in to all that. Connect with Nate there. Cool. Uh any anything kind of surprise you as you've as you started running your business, like, whoa, I wasn't expecting that. And you know, any challenges you've kind of overcome, any stories like that?

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, man. I mean, you know, I definitely think I started business out of a necessity.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Like I I definitely did not feel, you know, for those who knew me in my youth, it's like I'm for sure not like the super business guy. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like I didn't grow up just being like, I'm gonna own and operate a business, you know. But I I did feel that I learned a lot about operating and I learned a lot about you know, underpromise, overdeliver, yeah, give more new take, watching how other businesses operate and thinking to myself, like, I can bet on me, you know, I can bet on t-shirts and I can bet on my consistency. Um, but yeah, I feel like the whole thing has been pretty difficult. Like, I definitely feel like um with every pattern of growth, there's weight, yeah, and and you find yourself kind of on this endless journey where I almost feel like an addict at some point, right? Where it's just you know, whether it's the employees where the salaries need to go up because the groceries are going up, right? And the cost of goods for the blank garments going up, but the people don't want to pay the uh it's just it's been very, very uh difficult the last few years, I'd say. Um but it's cool, it's a challenge, and I feel like that's the point of it, right? And uh gotta kind of you're building something now, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

You just gotta rock and roll. It takes it takes work, takes some some real elbow grease to build something cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

What about you? Do you feel that way in business with yourself?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

It still happens, yeah, for sure. I mean, there's and you know what we find is we're we're growing, we're rocking along, and everything's feeling pretty good, but now we're kind of gotten to the point where you know, because we've attained new customers or clients, we need to add more people. Right. And so you feel like, okay, I've got the margin I like, but now we need to add some more people. And so then the margin squeezes back down. And and so it's always kind of that game. But you know, I mean, I I I love what you said, you know, just underpromise over delivery. I mean, and having that attitude of just really taking care of the customer's client, you know. It's it's gonna pay for it.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

So yeah, 100%. It's like some stuff that's been surprising to us is like you know, a lot of our customers, let's call it, are you know, YouTubers, influencers, like my friends that produce products, you know, they crush it, right? Like they have big moments, they do big car giveaways, they give away Porsches, like there's very big moments. Um you know, we've we've been able to kind of create the the policies, if you will, to print for zoomies. So now we're in malls and they're in malls, so we're in malls, and and there's this whole ebb and flow where like 2020 things uh in the world seemed to to be in decline, yeah, and these YouTubers took off. Yeah. And so we're sitting here, you know, vouching to drive to work as we've had more orders than we've ever had. Right. Although now, you know, years later you can almost watch the world seemingly okay, but the orders or the malls doing less.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

And so it's just so surprising to your point of like holy smokes, we have all of this going on, we need to scale up. Production needs X amount of units a month now, and you scale up, but then it's tough to tell if the following month is gonna have that same result, you know? So that's been what has been interesting and allowed us to just be more creative. Yeah, like our design studio needs to flourish now, so we have two things to bank on versus just one.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

I think having some diversity in your business and the different yeah offerings you have is is important as well. Right. Sounds like I'm learning that. Yeah, I'm learning that more and more.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

I'm like, all right, we need more lanes to to open up services so we can maybe not stress so much if if you know a client isn't crushing it at the time.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, so you've got a saying that every day is Friday. So I mean that the way you've described kind of some of the challenges of business, that that might be a tough mentality to maintain when it's pay payroll day or when you you know you're looking for a new customer, like where are these? But what what does that mean and how do you maintain that main mentality?

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Yeah, you know, like when onboarding uh let's say employees, yeah, I've just I've really you know I kind of set this bar for myself that you know I never wanted to wear a suit and tie, right? Love suit and ties. And I actually do enjoy wearing them, but like the idea was I never really wanted to work in such a corporate entity that I felt that the skateboarder in me wouldn't be alive, yeah, right. So I always wanted to keep that skate shop feel. And as I, you know, onboard employees, the idea was like your reflection, yeah, you know, so whether you say you'll be on time or your physical body is on time, I'm gonna just watch the physical results. Right. And so the idea for them was you know, we have such awesome retention at our shop because really I'm I I feel like one of maybe the talents are to to put the right puzzle piece in the right place, right? Right. So it's like I can tell when the sales chicks really love sales, I can tell when a mechanic really loves being a mechanic. Yeah, and when that isn't working, I've learned to get out of it before it sticks too long. Yeah, and so you know, when people work at 144, it's just like they just love it, right? It's just a full thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

They're doing what they do well and what they enjoy doing.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Yes, yeah. So my kind of quote to them is just every day's Friday. Yeah, I want I want you to want to be here, I want us to grow together. And it is a double-edged sword and the idea of like, you know, especially from a creative standpoint, like, okay, you're coming in for media, like you drive media, you create what you want. Like, I've learned there is boxes to create and there is processes to create. Um, but when you get that right person who can just really drive, drive forward, it's uh it's a big blessing. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Well, my my motto is every day's Monday. I'm kidding. I I don't like Mondays, no. And the bills are due. Yeah, the bills are due. I like every day's Friday. I'm I'm gonna go with that. That's pretty cool. All right. Well, uh, so now you've been in Denton for five or six years. What do you what do you love about Den? Or is there a uh a hotspot you like, a restaurant? What do you where do you what do you like to do?

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Yeah, I mean, um I I think you know, like I'm trying to think here, like Hannah's, yeah, which I I've coined Hanaz for those who don't know.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

I think I might have just missed it to my my lady one time, but it sounded really fancy.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So I I personally really enjoy Hanas. There you go. Um the steak there is awesome, the staff's awesome. Queenies, of course, again, I just feel like when we're going out, we try to hit some nice spots. Yeah. Um, and then of course, you know, there's so many cool places to to do like the team camaraderie, right? Whether it's Harvest House or the boys of East Side, right? There's definitely some just really cool spaces you can walk to and kind of guide people. Like when people come in town, like for example, at Texas Motor Speedway, yeah. So right here up the block, we really try to corral some drivers over, and they just love it. Like there was an event near Day of the Dead, and the whole town was lit up, and and they're just like, This is like a mini Austin. And I'm like, Did you Google it? Because I think that's what we call it. You know what I mean? So it's very fun, but yeah, I spent a lot of time on the square. Um coffee shops, good food. Yeah, I love it here, man.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Cool. I'm glad to have you here. And it's it's I don't know how many ex-pro athletes we have in the city, but there can't be that many. So you're you're among a short list, uh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I try to blend in normally. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Well, it's really cool. Quite an honor to have you on and uh really appreciate you taking time. Now, got some hats. You've got hats you've got, but these are Norman Osco hats. Love to give a guest, uh every guest I have on a hat, so you get a chance to pick a hat there. Maybe we'll have to feature some 144 hats going forward.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

That's right, man. I'll bring you some, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

All right, well, appreciate you jumping on. Any any anything else you need to promote? Anything you want to tell our listeners or man, I'm trying to think, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

I I think what you're doing is a great job. I think um, you know, highlighting Denton and I've learned so much through your socials just on whether what's going on around town, yeah, you know, watching other business owners ebb and flow in the the positive and negative times of just life.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Um, and that's really what drew me to this podcast was just knowing that I feel like there's value to be had with t-shirts and creative arts. And uh yeah, we're kind of tucked away at 1700 Shady Oaks, and it's a welcoming spot for those who want to check us out. And we're here to create for everyone from design to print, and uh, you know, we've done storefronts, we've done boats, cars, just we're trying to be as creative as possible.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

And yeah, just wanted to come and say hi and share our story, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Well, y'all check out Nate, 144 Racing.com, and and all the good stuff he's doing there. And Nate, really appreciate you jumping on and and and sitting down with us.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

All right. If you didn't know Nate Hamilton before now, now you do