16: SoBro Is Officially Here: Community Building, Local Business Growth & a New Shop Dog

What happens when a simple idea starts turning into a community movement?

In Episode 16 of Small Business, Big Life: Inside Fort Orange General Store, we’re sharing one of the most exciting and unexpected chapters of our small business journey yet.

Over the past two weeks, a grassroots effort to bring together local businesses on South Broadway has evolved into something much bigger. What started as a hashtag and a few conversations between neighboring business owners has officially become SoBro (South Broadway Albany)—and the momentum is growing.

This episode takes you behind the scenes of:

•  Erica's appearance on News10 ABC Albany to discuss the growing SoBro district 
•  How local businesses are collaborating to build community and drive foot traffic 
•  The launch of our first coordinated SoBro First Friday event 
•  The challenges and opportunities of creating a neighborhood business identity from the ground up 
•  Why community-driven growth continues to be the secret ingredient behind Fort Orange General Store's success 

We also dive into one of the biggest questions facing local business districts:

How can independently owned businesses work together to create loyalty and rewards programs that benefit an entire neighborhood?

If you're an entrepreneur, retailer, restaurant owner, or community builder, you'll want to hear this conversation as we brainstorm ways to create a more connected and supportive local economy.

But that's not the only major life update...

In true Small Business, Big Life fashion, a routine scroll through Facebook turned into another life-changing decision when we unexpectedly welcomed Masie, a new German Shorthaired Pointer puppy, into our family.

In this episode, you'll also hear:

•  The story behind how Masie found her way to us 
•  Why some of the biggest decisions in life don't always happen according to plan 
•  What it's like introducing a new puppy to the Fort Orange General Store family 
•  How our customers immediately fell in love with Albany's newest shop dog-in-training 
•  The surprisingly strong connection between entrepreneurship, family, and embracing the unexpected 

From local news appearances and community-building initiatives to new business ideas and puppy chaos, Episode 16 perfectly captures what Small Business, Big Life is all about: building something meaningful while navigating the beautiful unpredictability of family, business, and community.

Whether you're a small business owner, entrepreneur, downtown Albany supporter, dog lover, or someone who simply enjoys authentic conversations about chasing big dreams, this episode is packed with stories, lessons, and plenty of laughs.

Keywords:  small business podcast, Albany NY, downtown Albany, South Broadway Albany, SoBro Albany, entrepreneurship podcast, local business collaboration, community building, News10 Albany, small business owner, retail business podcast, Fort Orange General Store, Albany events, First Friday Albany, shop local Albany, German Shorthaired Pointer, shop dog, family business, entrepreneur life, Capital Region New York, Albany small business, community revitalization, local business growth 

 If you enjoy authentic conversations about entrepreneurship, family life, community building, and the realities of running a small business, be sure to follow, rate, and share the podcast with someone who believes in supporting local businesses and building stronger communities. 

Transcript

 Hello and welcome to Small Business Big Life Inside Fort Orange General Store, where
 entrepreneurship meets marriage, kids, and controlled chaos.
 I'm Joe Slichko and with me as always is my wife, business partner, and the owner of the Fort
 Orange General Store, Erica Cubello.
 Hey everyone, what's going on?
 So in today's episode, we once again are going to do a two week catch-up because we had
 some pretty monumental things happen over these last two weeks and I feel like we keep saying
 that every episode, but as you will hear in this episode, it was a little life-changing
 one could say.
 Oh it was, yes sir.
 There has been a lot going on and yeah, we just, we had to take it as it is and go with
 what's been happening.
 So it's been excellent.
 So with that cryptic lead-in, we of course will pause and remind all of our amazing viewers
 to please like or subscribe if you have not done so already, but most importantly, please
 share one of your favorite episodes with somebody new, enlighten their lives, enrich
 them a little bit if you will, with the bantering that is Erica and Joe.
 I love that very cute, Erica and Joe banter.
 It is kind of fun though, right?
 Both toss it is, we know that much, we just hope it is to everybody else too.
 Yes, we hope that you love our episode.
 So please continue to listen, share, like, comment, it means so much to us, so thank you.
 And why don't we talk about some of the people that have outwardly told us that they enjoy
 some of the insanity that we bring to the show.
 We should show, yes.
 So on our socials for the last couple of weeks, we had Christian George say, this is such
 a shits creek rose apothecary vibe, I must get in there soon.
 And this was in response to our collab with Common Roots and Carolyn Shapiro, who will be
 performing and popping up at Fort Orange this coming Friday, June 5th for our first Friday
 series.
 I love that she said that, you know, you and I are both big fans of shits creek, yes.
 And the store was already in apothecary before we purchased it.
 So it was a nice marriage of those two things.
 And we actually carry some shits creek inspired tees.
 That's right.
 Well, yes, we have a lot tea as in drinking tea.
 Yes.
 Yes, I was thinking tea shirt.
 Well, we don't carry those, Erica.
 No, we don't, but that has been on my mind for this past week as we will get into.
 So when you said tees, well, my mind went to tea shirts, sipping tees from harming and
 suns.
 We also have some other funny little quotes from the show on different items in the store.
 So come on down, check it out.
 Get the rose apothecary vibe via Fort Orange general store and say hi.
 I could totally see David going all in on so bro with that face that he makes as he's
 saying it.
 He would be such a good spokesperson for so bro.
 If anybody knows David from shits creek, and I mean the character himself, feel free to
 reach out on our behalf.
 Maybe he'll hear this and he'll just want to come and promote so bro for us.
 There you go.
 You're putting it out there.
 In the universe typical Erica Cubello right there.
 Watch and see everyone.
 Well, let's not jinx this one.
 Okay.
 All right.
 So let's get back to our wonderful, wonderful commenters and this means so much to us when
 we get this or get these on our stories and our feed to be able to interact with all
 of you.
 So thank you to everybody who's taken the time to comment.
 And if you didn't make it, keep commenting because you'll you'll make it one of these episodes.
 Pink cookie girl responded to the same thread that one of my favorite reasons to live
 downtown.
 I'll be there and I'll bring some custom cookies, Joe.
 Custom cookies.
 We get gifts too.
 Mmm.
 I know how exciting.
 This is amazing.
 We're not only going to have common roots, craft, brews, drinks, all of their delicious
 beverages, amazing folk music by Carolyn Shapiro.
 We are also going to get custom cookies.
 That's amazing.
 Mmm hmm.
 I'm even more excited than I was already.
 Sip shop socialize and savor in so bro.
 That was amazing right there.
 I love my literature.
 I'm really good at essays from Seriously Spotless.
 Clearly.
 Yeah.
 Okay.
 Let's keep going.
 So on our 5.8 day recap reel, we had B. Elsa Bub one.
 So happy I was able to make the trip from Connecticut and meet you and Rue in person.
 I'm a fan for life.
 Mmm.
 Aw.
 Love that.
 Thank you, Elsa.
 Again, it was our pleasure meeting you and your husband all the way from Connecticut just
 to meet Rue and I.
 More to come on meeting Rue.
 Put a pin in that.
 Yeah.
 Put a pin in that.
 Pam Howard.
 We can't wait to move downtown and do fun things on first Fridays to Pam.
 We can't wait for you to be our neighbors over at the oldest house in Albany, right?
 On Hudson.
 Correct.
 How exciting.
 Very exciting.
 That historic Albany Foundation will be moving right around the corner from us and joining
 our Sobro district.
 Welcome to the district.
 C.La.Capau says love a sip and shop opportunity at Chanda Powell.
 Know what we are doing that evening.
 All how exciting is that we are going to have our first two guests that may even partake
 in the savouriness of our free custom cookies.
 That's right.
 So we have two RSVPs to Friday's event.
 Can we count you all in?
 I think so.
 Please comment.
 So then cookie girl knows how many to make, right?
 Dozens upon dozens.
 Third eye concept says Sobro is definitely catchy.
 I love the positive energy.
 Keep it up.
 I've never been inside your store but planned to soon.
 Well, we cannot wait to meet you.
 Please come down and introduce yourselves and say hi to the fam.
 Stop on in.
 See what we're doing.
 Let's have some conversation.
 And who knows.
 You might make the pot again.
 Mm hmm.
 Theresa F. Campbell says love this.
 What's the name of that one?
 The brewery I worked for participated in something like this last fall in Casanovia with
 pop-ups at small businesses and the opportunity to win prizes for visiting businesses sponsored
 by the Chamber of Commerce.
 I could totally see Sobro be an incubator for something like this in the capital region.
 Cheers to you all for the unique activations and ideas you bring to the 5-1
8
 How nice is that?
 I love that comment.
 And she went on to say looking forward to visiting again soon and I can't wait to hear
 more about this concept taking shape.
 That's so cool.
 Right.
 And I'm going to jump in right now because that is kind of the flavor of something that we've
 been talking about over the last two weeks.
 So Sobro has taken off, which we'll talk about.
 It has officially been introduced.
 Yes.
 We'll talk about it in a second.
 More in a minute.
 And take out the pin in a second.
 Yes.
 But we're looking to, so I'm talking to the entrepreneurs out there.
 How do we capitalize on our Sobro community from like a rewards program sort of vantage
 point?
 So we've all been to the restaurants, the stores.
 We got your car, maybe it's digital.
 We're rolling something out very soon at ForttOrange, a brand new rewards program.
 You know, spend so much, you get points, you get rewards, you know, backstage access, all
 the fun stuff.
 Yeah.
 How do we, this is what Erica and I have been talking about.
 How do we capitalize on that for our Sobro businesses, which are cross industry and
 cross owned by obviously different owners.
 So how does a customer go to Affilias, for example, have dinner, go to lock and key, grab
 a drink, grab a drink, Broadway liquor, get something, get up a bottle for later, maybe
 the next day.
 Exactly.
 They're hitting the Vandy, you know, getting their thrift on with Maclamor, who knows, and then
 they pop in with us at Fort Orange, of course, and then they buy the glass, where to put
 all the things.
 I don't know.
 How do we track?
 How do we capitalize on that?
 How do we at Fort Orange know, besides a receipt, that they purchase something at the other
 establishments, and then how do we incentivize purchasing at Fort Orange, and how do we all
 make money on that?
 Again, this is to the entrepreneurs out there in a way that's almost like a shared revenue
 stream, but much simpler than that.
 Yeah.
 So that's what we're bouncing around, and if anyone has experience with something like this,
 that's cross industry, where it's not, you know, nice and neat, and we're all restaurants
 or we're all retail, we're a mix of everything.
 I would love to, you know, hear from you, drop a comment, let us know, because we're still
 brainstorming at this stage, but it's something we definitely, definitely want to have so
 broke insiders and get a sticker and a card and a cool mug.
 I don't know.
 But what does it mean for you, and what do you want out of it, I guess, of all the questions
 I have?
 Yeah.
 Lots of questions, because as each individual business is, we all are different business owners.
 We want to band together and create this district, like that is definitely a part of what
 we're talking about.
 We've launched meetings, we're meeting weekly together as the business owners, and this
 was one idea that popped up at our last meeting, so it would be amazing to hear from other entrepreneurs
 that are listening.
 Even customers, please join in on the conversation, because that's where we get our best ideas
 from.
 That's how I manage and stockboard orange by listening to my customers, so anybody who can
 add in a little bit of their own insight to this brand new concept idea, please, please,
 share with us.
 We need your help here.
 Absolutely, and I think that ends our comments for this episode, however, and again, thank
 you to everybody who's commenting, because it really does make my day to see a comment
 pop up.
 It absolutely does.
 You should see how excited she gets.
 I've told you before on this podcast that she either calls or text me immediately, sometimes
 I think the house is on fire, but it's one of you commenting on something and that's
 really cool to hear.
 Yeah, or popping into this door and saying like how excited you are to be there, it just lights
 up my die.
 Both of us really.
 So we have one new super fan this week to shout out and this came out of left field and
 was a complete surprise to me.
 So I got a text from our daughter's best friend's mom, connect all those dots.
 Now she and I go way back.
 We worked together at LaSalle.
 When I started off my career, she was part of the board at St. Augustins.
 I told that story on the podcast in her previous episode.
 Our daughters have been together since pre K when I was both their principles.
 So we run deep together, but it wasn't from her.
 It was from her son and he said, I want to be your next super fan.
 So I was a little confused at first when I got the text.
 I had her read it through a couple of times and figure out exactly what I just said happened.
 So I turned to our daughter and I said, what is this about?
 Why does Nick want to be a super fan?
 And she goes because he listens to every episode of the podcast.
 I said, stop it.
 Now Nick is in middle school, the middle school boy, right?
 And I said, that's not no, there's no way.
 And she goes, yeah, they'll be in the car.
 I've been there too.
 He'll turn it on from his phone, Bluetooth.
 And everyone starts freaking out and why did you turn the music off?
 And he's like, I want to hear the podcast.
 Now number one, why everyone's freaking out about it is half the issue.
 But more importantly, Nick is himself and does not care what the peer pressure is around
 him, whether it's adults or his peers.
 And he just does what is right and what is good, obviously, good for him.
 So Nick, sandwich, Nick dot sandwich to on social media.
 This is your shout out, you are our youngest super fan.
 That's not related to us directly.
 And we love you and we thank you for your support.
 And we hope this sets your career in life off on the right trajectory from this shout out.
 Thank you, Nick.
 It was so amazing to hear that story.
 It just lit up our dinner conversation, made us all laugh, have a great time.
 And we knew that you had to be the super fan this week.
 So thank you, Nick.
 All right.
 Now let's get into some of these monumental events that we alluded to with the whole
 pin.
 Yeah, we're taking one of the pins out.
 First pin out so Erica, you had a visitor at the store.
 I did another visitor that just like I called Joe and I was like, oh my God, Joe, you need
 to hear this.
 And he's like, hoping that it was me winning the lottery or something, right?
 So I'm like, we can retire, right?
 Because that's what I go to.
 This is somehow retirement for me.
 No, still need health care.
 Okay.
 Got it.
 So I get my visitor at Fort Orange the day after the five one eight day run weekend events.
 So it was the actual five one eight day.
 And anyways, it was at the end of the shift.
 Valerie comes in and we start talking and she's saying how much she loves the story, how
 much, you know, we've changed it, loves all the new additions.
 And then she says, so, what is this that I see on social media about so bro, can you explain
 this?
 And I'm like, oh my God, really?
 People are actually seeing this and like liking it and caring.
 And so I should rewind and say that I recognize her because she's a news anchor on news 10.
 Kind of an important piece of the story.
 Erica.
 I did leave that out.
 Yes, Valerie comes in and starts asking about so, bro, and I'm like, people are really seeing
 this and really caring.
 And I explain the idea, the concept and all the businesses bringing together and I went
 on to talk about first Friday and hoping you've an event.
 This one's going to be with common roots coming and popping up in our live music at the
 same time.
 And how all of the sober businesses are participating in this first Friday, so bro, which is the first
 time in the history of the first Friday event series.
 So she ends up loving the idea, the concept and saying, would you come in and interview
 with me at the station?
 I'm like, oh, yeah, of course.
 And she's like, but it would be at 6 a.m.
 So you'd probably have to get there like 5.30, I'm like, I don't care.
 I'll be there.
 Tell me it's 4.30.
 I'm in.
 So, anyways, it's been, you know, a couple of weeks of building up to the news interview,
 which I did yesterday morning on the 625 spot of news 10 Saturday morning.
 And it was so cool, so cool, I've never been inside of a news studio and it was amazing.
 You know, I get there, like nobody's there yet, everything is kind of like half lit and
 dark.
 All the rooms kind of look the same, lots of like TV monitors and anyways, I get in and they
 lead me to this beautiful little waiting room.
 Like, looks like what you would see on 30 rock, where they have their dressing rooms.
 And they have windows, you can see into the studios, they have the cute little kitchen and
 then a little like talk area.
 So I'm waiting, waiting, they make me up all of it and then the page, Kenneth, not really
 Kenneth, but Kenneth the page from 30 rock leads me back into the actual news room and,
 you know, you're seeing the teleprompter is the cameras and then Valerie is sitting at
 her news station, whatever you would call it.
 What would you call that?
 Desk.
 Her desk.
 Okay.
 I thought there was a more formal name.
 See, I don't know, this was my first time there.
 And it was just really cool, like how professional she is, like able to read and think and like have
 this serious face, very professional speak, like really impressive.
 And it's freaking 6, 15 in the morning, like I am barely awake.
 I was up late the previous night prepping for the interview.
 Anyways, we get settled with the two cute little chairs, you know, facing each other.
 And it was like a three minute interview, really cool.
 It flew by, felt like five seconds, but when I'm talked about what Sobro is, our businesses,
 the promotions were running for June 5th, and it was just so positive, like everything
 that we've been experiencing in the store, 518 day energy, just the whole year and a half,
 almost two years now and encapsulating our time at Fort Orange has kind of like accumulated
 to this with like the news really caring about a silly little idea, right?
 Another silly little idea that I brainstormed with Aaron from Metroland, and which came from
 Matt Bum Gardener at June Varmes, he actually coined Sobro, so thank you, Matt, because we cannot
 express our gratitude enough for that idea.
 And then Aaron dropped this on me and was like, I'll help you promote, we'll get this up
 and running.
 Her and I went back and forth about when we would.
 She gracefully backed out and gave me permission to run with it.
 So Shane and I from Ophelia just kind of started dropping like #Sobro's on social media when
 we're posting about our businesses, which led to 518 day with Team Sobro, which was kind
 of like a soft launch of it, Valerie saw it, came into the store, wanted to do a new spot
 on it, and here we are, Sobro Distract.
 It was amazing, so Valerie, thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time, believing
 in me and South Broadway and all of our businesses to have me on and put me on your show.
 Thank you.
 It was really, really an amazing experience and you did a great job recapping it.
 What I'll say is I'm not surprised that it happened and I guess before I get into that
 part, you did an awesome job and it came out very, very well and I'm proud of you for that.
 Thank you.
 I know you were a little nervous because it was your first time being in a news studio.
 I've never been in one, so I'm not saying it like, ooh, it was your first time, I've never
 done it.
 And it was fun.
 I was home with the kids and the other reason that we're going to talk about in a second plus
 it was really early.
 So I was able to watch it as it was happening and it was just exciting.
 There I am sitting there and I got my business hat on at the same time as I'm so proud of you.
 And everything I'm waiting for you to say, you're saying.
 And then the next thing pops in my head and then you say it and I'm like, wow, she's killing
 it.
 So you didn't absolutely find a lot of jobs.
 Thank you.
 I want to give you a lot of kudos and credit.
 You killed it.
 It's hard to watch yourself like back on it.
 I had all of the criticisms, right?
 You heard me and all the things I said, but it was really cool and thank you for saying all
 of that.
 That means a lot.
 And now to my other point, this is another example of community stemming from the Fort
 Orange general store and our other businesses, obviously, but we've talked about it before.
 It's organic.
 It's coming from the inside out.
 And when are we most successful at Fort Orange when we're promoting the community when we're
 doing community events and connecting Fort Orange and again, all of our Sobro partners
 under one umbrella into Sobro.
 So we're all growing together.
 I think that's why it's taking off and why it's so powerful because it's all of us coming
 together for the community and for each other.
 And it's what we talked about on this podcast many times is what we want to do and how we want
 to do things.
 It wasn't necessarily the vision, maybe that we had going into it that we were going to create
 the Sobro thing and be part of this creative process, but it's where life and the business
 led us.
 And I think that's awesome because I already said it, but it's organic and it's from the inside
 out.
 I think that's just really cool and powerful and awesome.
 It is.
 And when you have a team working together, it's only going to make things stronger.
 So by pulling in our neighbors, our businesses and brainstorming ideas and rallying the
 energy, right, it's only going to radiate, you know, make people want to come down and
 check it out and see what's happening because there are things happening in Albany.
 It's good, positive vibes, good business owners, people who care about our city.
 So we need to support each other in all of this.
 When you mention team and there's definitely a team, we've already talked about that.
 However, there also comes a time when you just need to get some things done and leading
 up to your spot on the news, we needed to bring or you needed to bring with you some Sobro
 merch that maybe doesn't exist yet.
 No.
 So what did you do kind of the week leading up to?
 Yeah, well, the two, it was like a week and a half right from the time I got asked the time
 I went on and we only had our team Sobro shirts, but we had all the ideas.
 So Tracy from the Vandy got a design put together by one of her employees, sent it over.
 I was reevaluating, redesigning the castle logo with Sobro.
 And so the design period happened and the making period happened in the past two nights leading
 up to the interview, I was up until like 12, 12, 30, I think I got like three and a half hours
 of sleep before the interview still recovering today.
 I don't know when I'm going to catch up, but this is what you do.
 You just make it happen like no, we don't have Sobro merch yet.
 But that's okay because we can create it.
 And it's better that way anyways because now I have a few sample products.
 We're going to post that on our socials this week to see what you all think because again,
 we want to carry things you like.
 Why would we carry something you don't want?
 So please be on the lookout to see the new merch ideas, the new design ideas because we
 want to take the best ones and give you them.
 So yes, be on the lookout on our social medias because in the next week or so, we are going
 to be showing some of these new ideas for merch.
 And that means we're going to have to create some of them.
 So be it one of the ones that's selected or maybe not selected or maybe they'll be selected.
 Who knows, we're going to have some one offs samples if you will that we would love to
 share to save to give away to, I don't know, maybe even sell to some of our amazing listeners.
 So whatever ideas we come up with will obviously put out there on social media and just keep
 your eye out for it because you could own some one of a kind merch.
 Yes, you could please drop those comments.
 Let us know which ones you want to see in the store, which ones you don't want to see
 in the store, what apparel items you might want to have because at this point in the game,
 we can combine and create what you want.
 Now I think it's time for the second pin to come out.
 Our last one for the show and it is quite the doozy.
 It's probably another reason why we're also tired this week.
 So if our loyal listeners remember back to the story of how we bought Fort Orange, it came
 from a Facebook post that Erica sent me as a one off, hey, we should buy this.
 And I said, yes, we should.
 And here we are.
 Something similar happened, although there wasn't a yes, we should immediately.
 So Erica, what Facebook post did you send me last week?
 Well, I had just been scrolling quickly after I parked the car because I always need a minute
 to like settle before I move my transitions, you know, Joe.
 Oh, I do.
 So I open up Facebook and my cousin, he owns this amazing farm out in Delanson, raises beautiful
 animals and he also breeds German joy or pointers.
 So he posted this sweet little picture of this little black pup, reminding me of Rue.
 And said the owners just backed out, we've got one up for grabs.
 So I screen shot it and sent it to Joe and said, we should get this.
 So to set the scene, there I am at my day job as a principal and we're getting ready for
 all the end of year activities, graduations, our award ceremonies, all the things that
 are, you know, monopolizing our night times throughout the week.
 And I was in a contentious meeting, if you will.
 We were all on the same page in the meeting.
 It was an outside factor that we were, you know, annoyed with.
 And this comes through and I look at it and I go, are you kidding me?
 And I show the four, I think, people that were in the meeting with me in my office.
 And they all smiled and went, oh, you're getting a dog.
 And I said, no, we're not getting a dog.
 We have four kids.
 We already have a dog.
 She's Rue.
 We have stickers made of her.
 She's amazing.
 Everybody loves her.
 We have three cats.
 We could do without any given day.
 But we have them.
 And they're around.
 We love them.
 Most of them.
 Most of the time.
 We have tons of business ideas that are spinning around and possible for the near future.
 Not saying too much right now.
 The last thing that we're going to be able to handle is a dog.
 We have playoff lacrosse happening.
 We have baseball that we talk about.
 I haven't seen Erica and I don't even know how long.
 And there's just no possibility.
 So they all laughed at me and said, you're getting a dog.
 We'll see it on Monday.
 I said, there's no chance I'm giving a dog.
 It's a hard no.
 I don't care how cute this dog is.
 Yeah, but I knew I had wiggle room because you kept going back and forth with me.
 It wasn't a hard no.
 You were like, but we can't.
 But what about this?
 No, that's not going to happen.
 So Friday comes and Erica goes, we're going to go see the dog.
 Are you kidding me?
 Whatever.
 Let's go see the dog.
 I don't know why I agreed to it.
 So we went out and we saw the dog and the dog fell in love with me naturally.
 Well, there were two, right?
 We should tell that.
 Yes.
 There were two.
 One spunky one and one who was nice and chill and calm for a puppy.
 Yeah.
 Her sister was like running all over her and she was just like, whatever.
 I'm laying here.
 I was like, I'd like this attitude over here.
 Yeah, yeah.
 And it came to be that that morning, her owner had backed out that, you know, had deposited
 on her.
 So two left over.
 So we stayed there for a bit, played with the dogs, and then we left.
 And we spent the rest of that night and Saturday, you know, talking about all the business
 things, all the family things, all the reasons why we were hesitant.
 Yeah, on making this decision, because we also have to make the best decision for the dog
 as well.
 Correct.
 You don't want to put a dog in a position where they're not getting the attention, the exercise.
 Right.
 They were not going to be a great puppy or dog that was not doing that.
 We already have, you know, four children who would say they don't have enough attention
 on them, even though all they get is constant attention.
 So we were having these conversations.
 And then that Sunday, I was working at the store when Erica informed me that she was going
 to pick up the puppy.
 Oh my God.
 Stop it.
 I do not make these decisions.
 You're making it out to be so wrong.
 He's spinning the story, everybody.
 I would not go and get her without his approval.
 This is what really happened.
 Okay.
 So on Saturday, we weren't really talking that much about it because it was kind of like,
 we both didn't know where we stood.
 So then I'm out on the deck, cooking hot dogs for the kids lunch, Joe's down, probably on purpose,
 you know, hot dogs, subliminal messaging, Erica.
 Thank you very much.
 That's weird.
 I don't know why you would say that.
 Anyways, he's down working on the lawn and he just out of nowhere goes, what about the
 name Maisey?
 Amazing.
 Because it's a great name.
 We can call her May.
 Obviously.
 All right.
 He wants to stop.
 She's like, got him.
 Okay, Joe, I like that.
 That's cute because we got her in May.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Sure.
 Because we're going to get her in May.
 You got it.
 I could have said anything at that moment and she would have been like, you got it.
 Let's go get the dollar.
 Pretty much.
 As long as it's your idea.
 Genius, by the way, it's how I live my life in the outside world.
 But we really did have all of the conversations that Joe talked about just later in the day.
 And we did decide that we we would trial it because my cousin was going away.
 Let's bring her home, see how life goes for the week, make sure it's a good fit.
 And of course, Rue came out with us to the farm on that Friday to make sure that Rue would
 be okay because we weren't going to bring a puppy home if she did not accept it.
 And she did.
 And the other issue was we had two of the four kids with us.
 So we wanted to make sure all four were on board and Maisey was on board with all four as
 well.
 Yeah.
 Again, because we have to make sure it's a good fit for all involved.
 Yep.
 Exactly.
 So it ended up that I went out with my oldest son and we picked up Maisey and we brought
 her home and it's kind of been love at first sight for all of us.
 She's adorable, fits right into the family.
 Such a little snuggler.
 She's been crawled up on my lap, this whole episode because all she wants to do is snuggle.
 She's just fabulous.
 She's the coolest.
 Next to Rue, of course.
 Well, there's no one.
 Rue is the OG.
 Like nobody is ever going to be real.
 Right.
 But next to Rue, she's the coolest dog I've ever met.
 Yeah.
 She's the second best.
 Yeah.
 So she's already been put to work at eight weeks old.
 Yes.
 She is a shop dog in training.
 I like to tell my customers here's Rue, our shop dog and our shop dog in training.
 Maisey.
 And people are just like falling in love with her.
 It's so much fun.
 So much fun.
 Why don't you tell some of the stories that have happened already this past week with a
 little one.
 So on Friday, I had gone to the restroom and came out and then I see one of the customers
 that was in the store shopping, just holding me, walking around the store with her and she's
 like snuggled up in her neck and she's like, oh, I hope you don't mind.
 I'm like, oh my god.
 No.
 Have at it.
 Like she's yours.
 If you want to hold her in shop, be my guest.
 And they were loving it.
 Then she got down and was running around because after she has her snuggles, she gets
 her like puppy tornado time and people were on the rug like training her, like sit down,
 like playing little tug of war with her.
 She has claimed my chair in the back room as her bed.
 So when she's tired, she whimpers.
 I have to pick her up and hold her and then put her to sleep on the chair.
 Now mind you, she has a whole set up.
 She has a bed.
 She's got the creative needed.
 We got a gate.
 So we were very thoughtful to make her comfortable, so it's the best scenario for her.
 We have the beautiful lawn across the street at the castle that we get to take her out on
 all the time.
 So she's not cooped up in the store by any means.
 No.
 And she also has all her own stuff.
 The fact that she wants to come and dear, Erica's chair is not because of a lack of us taking
 her up her.
 Right, she has one in the store under a table, one in the back room.
 She's got a little toy box.
 She's got her, you know, little hardness vest if she needs that till it come down.
 We go on our morning walk and then our afternoon walk and you know, she's met the people at
 the bank, the stacks coffee shop, like she is, she is a part of downtown now.
 So that day you left and you guys came home.
 And then you got a text from Chris working at the store.
 Oh my God.
 Yes.
 Tell everyone what that one said.
 One of our customers that was playing with Maisey asked Chris, oh, where's Maisey's sticker?
 When's that coming out?
 So not even a full weekend at eight weeks old.
 She already has her first request for merch.
 Yes.
 And it will be coming.
 She's going to be until she becomes more of her own dog before we put her face on anything
 too permanent.
 So surprise everyone.
 Another major life decision on a whim.
 Although very thought out and calculated, it's amazing.
 And exactly what our family needed, even though we didn't know it.
 Yep.
 Amazing.
 But as our youngest has nicknamed her, yes, but similar to Rue's story, which we told
 on a previous episode, this kind of happened the same way where it magically happened that
 she was spoken for.
 Yep.
 And they backed out at the last second.
 We didn't even know it till we got there.
 Mm-hmm.
 Again, we were looking at the other dog and she found us.
 Exactly.
 Where Rue we did for me, Maisey came to us.
 It was very sweet.
 Mm-hmm.
 And she's all black, just like Rue.
 She's so cute.
 Just a little white spot on her chest.
 She's beautiful.
 So the next time you come down to the Fort Orange General Store, hopefully you'll be
 able to meet not only Rue or see again, Rue, but you'll be able to meet our little Maisey
 at the same time.
 Maisey may.
 Yes.
 And I'd like to give a big shout out to Tino and his farm, eat in Corners Homestead out in
 Delanson.
 They, like I said earlier, raise all of their animals very humanely to a beautiful job.
 They have chicken, free range chickens, fresh eggs, cows, pigs, ducks.
 Oh my god, ducks.
 Yeah.
 We're not talking about that.
 That was terrifying.
 Oh my gosh.
 Joe met the ducks and I have pictures and they will be part of this post.
 Thank the Lord that they were in an enclosed area because I would have been gone.
 It would have been worse than what we saw when we pulled in.
 All right, so we pull in and we see Tino come running out of the house and he's like, I'll
 be right back.
 I'll be right back.
 Our cows given birth to a calf and it's stuck and we're like, what?
 We're not farm people.
 So he comes back and he's like, oh, check out this video.
 I had a grab or buy the hoes and pull her out and literally gave birth to a calf that
 he assisted with didn't shake my hand because he had all the cow after birth on them.
 Oh my god.
 That's how the whole thing started.
 It was crazy.
 And then the ducks don't, I can't.
 It was.
 It was so much fun.
 And here we are.
 Our youngest had quite the time of his life, like he should be a country boy.
 But again, this is all like really well done.
 They love their animals, treat them extremely well and they have amazing, amazing little meat
 shack that you can just roll up and drop money in a box and take what you want.
 They are such a sweet family, three young, two young kids, one on the way.
 And yes, it's my family and we, you know, we come from a very entrepreneurial family.
 I should, I keep saying word family.
 I don't know what else to say right there, but it is my grandmother came from Italy and
 had many businesses and all of us have inherited some form of his craziness.
 And Tino took on the farm part I've taken on like this entrepreneurial business end of
 it.
 And we're all just very creative business people rocking it out day by day.
 Maybe with a brand new puppy.
 Maybe with a brand new puppy.
 Yes.
 So on that note, I think that wraps up our episode for this week.
 We left a lot of things for our listeners to comment on from way back to the idea of how
 we connect all of our so bro businesses together and just some loyalty or reward insider program
 to letting us know what you think about our items that we're going to drop on our socials
 to talk about our dog and don't talk about the ducks.
 Talk about the ducks.
 Talk about the duck.
 Oh, I have some new duck merch coming in too.
 Just to drop that one to all right, I'm about ready to roll the credits on this one.
 So thank you all for listening once again and we look forward to sharing our lives with
 you next week on small business big life inside Fort orange general store.