Escaping the Drift with John Gafford - Key to the City: Crafting a VIP Experience with Tim Gordanier

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Tim Gordanier, the mastermind behind the Las Vegas Key to the City, joins us to share his journey of crafting a standout VIP recognition program. This isn't just any token; it's a solid copper key embedded with a chip that unlocks exclusive experiences for locals. You'll hear how this innovative approach creates a social club atmosphere, encouraging connections and memorable moments. Tim’s story of starting from scratch is a creative blueprint for anyone looking to redefine their business ventures.   Take a nostalgic trip through the entrepreneurial origins of a determined self-starter from Owen Sound, Ontario. Remember selling hockey cards as a kid? That early hustle paved the way for a marketing role at Disney, where he triumphed over 20,000 other hopefuls. Through humor-filled anecdotes, we highlight the power of resilience and the importance of dreaming big—lessons that are crucial in nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs.   Explore the strategies for expanding unique business models, including the value of physical interactions over digital solutions. From quality control in production to strategic collaborations, we cover the nuances of ensuring high service standards and the benefits of joint ventures. Dive into the world of cross-market partnerships and learn how patience and high renewal rates can lead to long-term success. This episode is your call to action—take the leap and turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality!   CHAPTERS    (00:00) - Building a VIP Recognition Program (11:55) - Entrepreneurial Origins and Disney Misadventures (20:54) - Tech Entrepreneur's Journey to Success (27:08) - Expanding VIP Recognition Program Operations (37:11) - JV Partnership Expansion Strategy Discussion (41:21) - Business Expansion Strategy Discussion (48:14) - Networking and Motivation Boost   💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below!    ☑️  If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford  ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space.   ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company.   ➡️ Streamline Home Loans - An independent mortgage bank with more than 100 loan officers. The Simply Group, A national expansion vehicle partnering with large brokers across the country to vertically integrate their real estate brokerages.   *************   ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media:   Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford   Facebook ▶️ / gafford2   🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283    *************   #escapingthedrift #timgordanier #viprecognitionprogram #lasvegas #keytothecity #copperkey #exclusiveexperiences #socialclub #entrepreneurialorigins #disney #marketing #resilience #dreamingbig #businessventures #uniquebusinessmodels #physicalinteractions #digitalsolutions #qualitycontrol #jointventures #crossmarketpartnerships #networking #motivationboost #brandexpansion #strategiccollaborations #hospitalityindustry #brandbuilding #rapidgrowth #refining #scalingup #mobileapp #influentialpeople #mailinglist #fivestarreview

Just put water on yourself. All right, now you almost got to watch this. We got Joe Rogan style. I don't cut this thing up. We just go straight as it is. So yeah, he just spilled his bottle of water in his lap, which is, you know, hey man, it's a first. Oh my God. It's a first. Three years doing this. That's a first. I feel good now. You should. Because now the next person who does it won't feel so bad. You've trailblazed that for the next person, which is good.

It could have been worse. It could have been a beer. you've you've trailblazed that for the next person which is could have been worse. It could have been a beer. And now escaping the drift the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm john gaffer and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you want to pad the greatness. So stop drifting along escape the drift and it's time to start right now. Welcome back to the program, everybody. Like it says in the opening, the podcast, it gets you

from where you're at to where you want to be. And today in the studio, ladies and gents, I got something kind of cool. This is something that hit my desk yesterday. And in the, you know, look, people give me stuff all the time. Like I get stuff sent to me in the mail. I get stuff dropped off. I get all kinds of stuff. It is lovely when that happens. Like I'm always very flattered when people bring me stuff. And then, you know, sometimes people bring me stuff and I start having a conversation

with them and I realized, dude, this is a pretty cool business. And I really like what this person has built. I like what they did. And I like, you know, what they've done. And I really think it was great. And yesterday, a guy walked into my office and handed me, presented me with something called the Las Vegas Key to the City.

And I was like, what is this? And I'm gonna let him explain what it is because I thought it was cool. This is not an infomercial today because this is really just from talking to him for a little bit. It's a story about bootstrapping up a really cool business from scratch.

And we're gonna kind of go through how he did that. And I think it's a business that like, look, don't go rip him off, but I'm just saying this should get your wheels turning for something you could bootstrap up, which is very cool. And I hate to do this because it's French and I've already butchered it in my mind. I've already butchered it I've already screwed up. So guys, we're just gonna say welcome to the fuck. He's gonna say his last name I'm gonna say his first name. Welcome to Sue. This is Tim Gordon. Yeah, Gordon. Yeah

Not bad. No done yet. Go down. Yeah, I just as I was talking to Mike man Tim welcome buddy. I want to say thank you by the way. So yeah, again, dude, thank you so much for giving me this. And, uh, before we get too far into the building of the business, I want people to understand what this is. Cause I thought it was cool. So what is, what is the key to the city of which if you're watching us on YouTube, I'm holding on the screen and you can see super fresh. Yeah. Make sure you like subscribe and all of those things does help us keep doing this, doing this thing. But explain to me what this is.

Yeah. So we, we basically created a key. If you want to, it's a VIP recognition program built in with a social club. Uh, the idea behind it was pretty simple. I mean, it's, we basically reinvented a card into a very cool format and wanted to make it something that people would talk about. And it was kind of cool to show and you felt right. And everything about it, everything from weight down to the look, we were very, very specific and careful about. So even the curated partners, so we go and source the best of the city built for locals,

by the way. And the idea was to again, bring locals out to the places that we found out were the best in the city and we keep finding and sourcing and each place recognizes you for just having the key and treat you like a VIP. And the idea was everyone's being recognized. Yeah. I mean, this thing like people have, it's not like a card. I mean, this is, if you're watching this, this is like a, I mean, it's a metal just thick heavy that's it's all embossed in a grave it's got you know it's got a chip in it so they can scan it and it's like a heavy thing I mean it's like a legit thing your copper actually yeah

it's pure copper copper dude well so I mean things don't work out with us like in a and I turned to a method I can start recycling start recycling this first there you go. But yeah, but essentially the idea here is it's a subscription based deal. So people join this social club. And when you walk in, it's not like discounts. It's like they just give you stuff.

That's right. Which is pretty wild. And I went through the whole website last night and I was just looking at this. And it's, I mean, it's a good restaurants around town. If you know Vegas, places like Jing and Barry's and eight over at a carver stake. I mean, places where people go, you know, sat bus where I don't know, but some people go, go, maybe go.

Who goes there? Who goes there? I definitely go there. Who knows? But yeah, it's places where people actually go. It's not just like the junkiest of the junk. It's good stuff. And they just kind of, when you walk in, what do they do? What do you do? What do I roll up with this key? How's, is it like, cause you said, you mentioned something that was kind of cool

when you said it, you said just like John Wick. It is. It is. I like that. It's like sliding the gold coin across, but it's obviously a gold key. You slide it to the bartender and the bartender knows exactly what to do.

So if you go to Legacy Club, for instance, you slide this to the bartender, you with a date or you're on your own, whatever, or you're with a friend, colleague, you slide it across and they instantly recognize you. They come up with two classy drinks and they present it on the house. Every time you go, you can go every day. It doesn't matter. It's a, it's just a recognition thing. Yeah. Just because it's a good,

it's good business for these places because they have people that, you know, this is not cheap to be a member of this. It's not, I mean, what's the cost to be a member here? 700 bucks a year. So I mean, dude, it's not chump change. It's it's, there's a little bit of a barrier entry to it, but priced where we didn't want to, we wanted locals to go and we want locals to feel right. But we didn't want to also overcharge where I thought, you know, you don't have to overcharge. It's, it's cool. Make it approachable,

make it cool. Yeah. But classy. It's like a lot of people that aren't in know, you don't have to overcharge. It's cool. Make it approachable. Make it cool. Yeah. But classy. It's like a lot of people that aren't in business and are marketing don't understand the concept of barrier to entry, where if it's just for everybody, then it's for nobody. You know what I mean? So you're kind of trying, you got to, it's kind of cost a little something. Because then it has no value.

But the idea that you can just roll up in places with this and get free stuff and people are like, why would they do that? It's because they're assuming that somebody that has, you know, willing to throw 700 bucks down just to have this cool key in their car or in their pocket as they go out, you know, that's somebody that's going to spend more money than just walking in and getting free drinks. It's not going to be like,

let's go bar hopping with my key and just pound all these free beverages. Right. It's like, okay, cool. Number one, you're people that spend money out. So you're going to make a decision to go out and you're looking for that type of thing. And not your coupon hunters, because coupon hunters, they don't pay $700, get in. They just want the free, they want, and we never discount our keys.

So that was important is that, the key has to hold its value too, just like we make our restaurants and restaurants hate discounting. Discounting should never be done anyway. Yeah. You know what's really interesting that I thought is just such a strange

shift in American culture, which is Neil Patel put something on his, on his page the other day that I thought was really interesting. And what it said was it was a bar chart and some of all the Google searches for everything, service products, everything over American, over the American culture over the last 15 years. And when, when internet that first came out like whatever it was and heavy search was there 2007 2008 started The word free was like the number one searched thing on the internet and then in the word value was was best Best was like way down here and then they showed this this chart of the two lines conversion

Okay, 2017 in 2017 And then they showed this chart of the two lines converging at 2017. In 2017, best became more searched than free. So people started looking for things of higher value and not necessarily the less cost. And those lines continue to diverge now. And it makes sense, because back in 2007, I think coupons were kind of cool. Well, that was right in the throes of the financial crisis.

I can kind of see that people were looking for a little free. Oh, yeah. I think I personally like the back then I was like, I was younger, but I was like a two for one burger. I'm like, I sign me out. Yeah. But you know, when you get older and more refined and I think the society changed too, I think people want value. They want sorry, better.

And it's it's important. Yeah. And better doesn't come with a discount. Yeah. And you do this exclusively every year. How many of these keys do you do? 2024. So we released those last year. We launched in February 1st, actually last year. And we sold out in September, which was crazy. Um, I also gave a lot of keys to the right, you know, obviously sure local, local. Celebrities. We've got some cool celebrities with it. Actually. Um, even Christie Noem actually just presented a key to her.

She's the new secretary of the Homeland Security. It's crazy. That's very cool. Yeah, that was actually really cool. She's very good looking by the way. Oh, is she? Yeah. You might have noticed.

Shocking. Good looking women. Shocking. And very, very, very amazingly put together. I mean, I listened to her speak at a conference and just, just an amazing woman. She's just a story. Yeah. All right.

And you bootstrap this whole business. So strapped and then we released 1000 more pieces here. So I totally went off track. That happens. Uh, so 2024 keys and then we added an extra thousand because we're a subscription model based. So each year we want to obviously add a little bit more because we keep about 92% and usually in our other cities, which is Toronto, Montreal, which we'll talk about. But yeah, but yeah, so we have released 1000 new keys this year.

So once those are gone, they're gone. Yeah. So for those of you at home that are quick with the old calculator here, if you can be quick with what you got, I think you can do the math of 2000 times 700, even handful of comps that you take out of there. I think you can probably do the math pretty quick. My man, Tim's doing pretty good for himself. That's terrible. They went all right. And essentially all he's doing is bringing people together. He literally has manufactured a business out of thin air.

He has Uber of hospitality. He has no employees. He has no rent. He has no cost of goods other than the cost of- I have employees. You have employees. You have employees, all right. But I'm just saying.

I might die. You don't go. Yeah employees. All right But I'm just saying I might die You don't go you're in the hospitality business, but you don't have a shift change, right? You don't have to deal with oh shit. My bartender called out today. And so the bartender is me You don't have to deal with oh good. The price of eggs just shot to the roof. So now my cost of goods is terrible That's right, right You essentially have become a partner with the best places in town with zero overhead and nothing but profit that is reliable and countable because of subscription based. And it took it took building obviously the brand and the and the polish and the and the

oh yeah factor. Believe me I ain't saying it's easy. And the events and we do key holder socials which are cool so we actually do host those on our own once we'll bring key holders out together and meet other key holders. Yeah. You're right. We're sort do host those on our own. So we'll bring key holders out together and meet other key holders, which you're right. We're sort of, I always say this, we're kind of the Uber of hospitality because we just kind of enable people. We created a program and then we send them out and then the restaurants, obviously, you know, it's a marketing tool really for them.

They're bringing in the business from us with our key holders and they do this. They did the fulfillment, which is great. You're right. Yeah. And the thing that I thought was interesting as I went through the site last night is it's not like dead nights. It's not like if you come in on a Tuesday night when they're hurting for business,

it's I don't care if it's prime time Saturday night. It was important. That was one thing, you know, it was funny in Toronto. We used to get businesses when I was younger and we've been around 10 years there. I wanted to, I wanted to make sure everyone was gonna, you know, it was gonna be honored always cause it's confusing otherwise.

And the brand really for my brand isn't good. And then me marketing your restaurant isn't good because I can't rely on you being cool. So one of the things that happened back then was, you know, they'd say, well, we don't want to do it on Friday, Saturday. I'm like, no. So the one rule I would always say was you have to honor it at any time. And to be honest, I mean, giving someone a welcome gift when they come in to dine with you and spend not their hard earned money. Yeah, they get it. But you know what I love about Vegas? They get it. They didn't have to say anything. They just knew they're

like anytime. It's cool. That's good. Well, let's okay. So let's go back now. So let's walk through because this is just you, you know, any partners, right? Nope. Just me. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously I have a team, but you have a team, but no, but this, you are, you are CEO, everything. This is founder. You are it. Um, how old, how old are you now? I just turned 47. You just turned 47. Okay. Good, man. You're looking good for 47. I would assume you were way younger too. I'll take it. I'll take it. Uh, that's good stuff. So what's the background like? Where did you grow? Where did you grow up? I always like to go to the nature versus nurture for heavy entrepreneurs and talk about, yeah, what was your early life?

So I'm from a small town up in Owen Sound, Ontario. So it's about two and a half hours north of Toronto. And that's where I've been living. Toronto, I've been in Toronto for 20 years. But yeah, it's been crazy. So we started, I started a small city. I knew I didn't belong. I knew I wasn't gonna be that guy on the line,

the factory, which, hey, some people love it. Some people- Is that a big manufacturing town you're from? Oh yeah. Did your dad work on the line? My dad was actually an engineer for hydro, which was crazy So yeah, that was kind of cool. My mom did like, you know advertising sales for a local newspaper. So So mom was a salesman mom was a salesman You know what's funny my dad was the entrepreneur who gave it up for his kids and really sort of his you could tell his passion

So he used to take me to sell he he nurtured it I mean I sold hockey cards when I was 10, loved that the shows and we had tables and he booked it. And he saved the money for college for me. And I didn't know that, but he just, he was kind of, he wanted to do it. He opened up to me about it. That was the hustle.

Yeah. That was the, he took the safe route. Cause of course you do that when you're having a family, some people will take the safer and it's okay. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. So he would take you. So that will take the safer and it's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he would take you. So that was the first hustle was selling hockey cards. Yeah. So he put a lot of weight on my shoulders, like you better be successful in business because I want to be in business. Oh my God. Fair.

So, so, so did you were you got that got good grades? Just go water on yourself. All right. Now you almost got to watch this. Dude, we got Joe Rogan style. I'll cut this thing off. We just go straight as it is. So yeah, he just spilled his bottle of water in his lap, which is, you know, hey man, it's a first. It's a first. It's a first. Three years doing this, that's a first.

I feel good now though. You should, you should. Cause now the next person doesn't feel so bad. You've trailblazed that for the next person, which is good. It could have been worse. It could have been a beer. Yeah, it could have been.

It could have been. Or a coffee. Or a coffee would have been much worse. So were been a beer. Yeah, it could have been. It could have been. Or a coffee. Or coffee would have been much worse. So were you a guy that got good grades in school? I was, um, it's funny. I was pretty average in school. I, I had a, I had a gift of like photographic memory. So I would, uh, it's funny. I would study before exams and just obviously ace the exams. But you never did your homework.

No, it was pretty. That was me. And I never even, you too. That was me too. Okay. So I was, it was pretty. That was me. And I never even, you too? Dude, that was me too. Okay, so I was the straight like B, C student because literally I could get an A on any test, but I never did my homework. At crunch you killed it. And no, and it was always this argument of, with the teachers of what is the purpose of the homework?

To learn the material. If I can get an A on your test, why do I need to do the homework? I got it, right? I do the dummies ones, cause I used to read the Coles notes and the dummies, whatever. Oh no, dude, I was like,

that was a great school. It was like a cave with like chalk on the wall. Who knows? Oh, okay. It was old school. But no, it was a, yeah, dude, same thing, man. You kill it when you crunched it at the last minute, You will kill it.

Yeah. Yeah. And I got to, I got to say, thank God for my wife. Cause my kid now it's the same, but she just keeps her thumb on his ass. So he's got a four, six, five, four, seven, five. Now, you want them to be better than us, right? Yeah.

Just cause mom's got the thumb on him about the home. Right. He'd be, he'd be the same way though. Of course. So we're kind of proof that, you know, you can still make it if you don't do the 4.75 points. Yeah, I do. Well, yeah. I mean, it's a lot harder. It is definitely harder. It is definitely harder. It's a lot harder to self-start in our business. Cause that's, that's the hardest part. It is. So you graduated, you graduated from,

from high school. Did you go to college? Yeah. So I went to college in London, Ontario and Fanshawe and I didn't go to a fancy university And then well actually I kind of did actually because in the end I ended up getting hired by Disney if you can believe it Disney marketing, okay, they came and recruited me out of school, which was crazy I applied there were like 20,000 applicants It's what you were in school you were in school for marketing and they went around the country looking for Canadians to represent them Just cuz they like they think you're nicer and And they figure, they just figure you're nicer. They really do.

And they look for that. And they also have Epcot and they wanted marketing input for Canada cause they have a Canadian pavilion. Oh dude. Amazing. Many, many days at the Canadian pavilion. The drink around the world, did you ever do it? Yeah.

Dude, so many. I lived in Orlando for years, right? No way. Oh for years. I was in Lake Bonavista, so right there in the, yeah. I lived, you know where, where 1792 Mills bends around Lake Leswana downtown? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like one of us to sit right there. And yeah, I lived, you know, we're, um, where, uh, 1792 mills bends around Lake LaSuana downtown. Yeah. Yeah. I lived right on Lake Los. No way. Yes, I did for years. I didn't even know that. That's cool. I'm flirting by birth. So yeah,

that's cool. But yeah, so I love that city drinking around the world. For those of you don't know, but I highly recommend this. It is the greatest thing to do at Disney world. So Disney world have never been Epcot, has the world pavilion, starts with Mexico, ends with England, I think, which is Canada. Is Canada's first actually, then it ends in Mexico. Not the way I thought.

Well, wait, actually, it depends how you go. You're right. Yeah, okay, so you gotta go left. No, you went, oh, you went, oh, see, I went counterclockwise. You're gonna finish drinking around the world with Mexico? You're drinking tequila? Well, no, no can't. I went counterclockwise. You're going to finish drinking around the world with Mexico. You're drinking tequila. Well, no, because you got to go tequila. No, no, no. Then you go an easy Norwegian beer. Then you go German beer. True.

Then you get into your sockies and whatnot around the, on the backside. And then you're finishing with those big pints with big pints. You can't start with, so you can't finish. We did the whole man. Yeah, that's not helping anybody, but he's not wrong. This is, and then, and then remember the, they had the big, the big, uh, light shows in the, and the, in the middle of those. Okay. It's crazy. I'm a lagoon. Sorry. Legally, technically I'm banned from Epcot. Oh, shut up. Legally and technically I'm banned from Epcot. We were there one night.

So you should have taken Canada first. Oh, legally and technically I'm bad for that. I've got, we were there one night. So you should have taken Canada first is what I'm hearing. Well, I've never told the story, especially on the air. Cause here it is. So I got to hear this. Yeah. This is not how they have, you know, money and success. This is the exact, exact opposite of this back in my younger days. When things are a little crazier, my buddy, Ryan said, Hey man, you know what we should do?

We should swim out to, let's swim out to the, to the ball. Oh, shut up. You did not get in the lagoon. We got in the lagoon. No, you didn't. Yes, we did right over the wall into the lagoon. They got duck boats out there. They caught us in the lagoon in the duck boats, took us to the underground world of Disney. You know, the under like we're at the underground. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, this is a real place. Oh yeah. And they straight trespass. Oh, this is a real place. Oh yeah. And they straight trespass. Oh, actually for life. Like done. Oh yeah. Yeah. I guess that would do it.

I'm going to tell you when I had my kids 20 years later, whenever it is, we go back and it's a little more day one. So the rule of thumb right now is that you got to start with beers and end with tequila. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably the way to do it. But yeah, that's crazy. I never even thought it. And he's funny. I never even thought of getting in the lingo,. But yeah, that's crazy. I never even thought it and it's funny. I never even thought of getting in the lingo, but that's that's crazy. I love it.

Yeah, there's alligator. I think I like you more now. There's alligators in there. There is. They're like, bro, there's alligator. I'm like, oh, legit. I'm like, I'm from Florida. I'm not scared of alligators.

Who cares? But of course, anyway, they're not fast enough. I digress. So Disney comes to hire you. Yeah. And I got hired from them and I went to, while they, when they hired you, they gave you basically courses in Disney university, which is actually an accredited university. Yeah.

You know this cause you were there, but a lot of people don't know that I say this to Americans and Canadians. They're like, no, no, no, no. Disney culinary is like huge deal. Huge deal. Yeah. I took their hospitality marketing. It was amazing. Yeah. It's great. Best year and a half of my life. It was, so you learned way more there than you did in college. Oh yeah. Hands on. I just like the hands on. I made no money. They pay you crap. Like no money at all. You know, did you work in the park while you do this? Uh, yes. So it actually got to shadow. So I was doing some days we were in the

office. Some days we were doing, I was a manager of a nightclub on pleasure Island, which of course we're old enough to know. All right. So you may know a really good friend of mine then. Actually, I'm going to give you some bad news if you do. Uh oh. You know Mike Hughes? No. Mike Hughes was the GM of all of Pleasure Island. I might know Mike Hughes.

I just don't remember the name, which is crazy. Cause I have a good memory. I should remember that. I'll show you a picture. I managed mannequins for one night. That was insane. The bad news is Mike was one of my dear friends. He passed away. Oh, no way. Yeah. Which is terrible.

It's very possible. I'll show you a picture. You everybody in Orlando knows you. I was going to say, it sounds like he's been around. He's been around forever. I'm gonna see here. It was really cool to do it. It's like, yeah, just something I'd never done before. And the third floor mannequins was frightening. I'm going to be honest with you. So this was, that's my cues.

He looks sort of familiar. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was the GM of all of his probably a lot younger when I saw him. Yeah. He was the GM of all pleasure Island. And then, okay. And then when they opened city walk, he left. I totally would have pleasure Island to go to city walk and he ran city walk for billions of years. Yeah. He opened it forever. Forever. 98, 99. There you go. All right. Cool. That's actually really cool. So Disney, we learned everything, which was good. There you go. All right. Cool.

That's actually really cool. So Disney, we learned everything, which was good. And how long did you stay there? A year, a year and a half almost. And it was, uh, it was just like, like I said, it was just a thing to go and, and learn and no money. We partied a lot. It was like, it was crazy.

Yeah. But I learned a lot and they, and they have like black lists. It's legit stuff. I don't know if I should stay in this right now, but, but they've they've got some, they got some crazy, crazy stuff going on in the marketing. Hey, they're strong. They got power. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. And you don't want to get in their bad side. I'll tell you that much. There is a black list. No, no, no, I'm sure. Dude. I used to love the, the,

the girls that they would bring into work to different pavilions, but always wind up at house of blues on Sunday nights for sin night. Nope. That was a spot for sure. A lot of time in that place, buddy. Bring back the memories. A lot of time in that place. So anyway, Ale House, I don't remember Ale House.

That was our, that was our regular. Miller's Ale House. Oh my God. Yeah. And what was it? Sorry. The roof is on fire. It was on, Oh my God. The boo, the big bamboo, the big bamboo. Remember this?

No. So it was a shack and I think it burned down recently. I heard, and they used to serve this stuff out of the back, the moonshine in their drinks and you would go in and the song was, you know, the boo, the boo, the boo was on fire. We don't need no one anyway. Oh God. They bring out these drinks and I'm telling you two drinks. We were hallucinating.

I mean, I don't know what that was. No clue. This place was crazy. Never heard of it. It was on a bend. It was on a bend coming from Orlando into Lake Bonavista. That's all I remember. And anyway, are you talking about Baja Beach Club?

Maybe that's what it is then or before that or after it. Maybe. I don't know. Who knows? It burned down. That's all I know. It looked literally like a shack in the woods, but it wasn't the woods.

No, I don't know. So after Disney, you spent a year and a half with Disney. What did you do next? So after that I came home and I actually got into learning. I self taught myself how to do web design because it was kind of a thing and I started making websites back studied, looked at websites, studied the backend coding, trying to figure out how they did it. So you went from Orlando back to Toronto.

No, I went back to Owen sound, which was like the worst. Oh geez. Yeah. The worst temperature shock. And I'm like, you know, I'll bartend and serve. I'll learn this coding, live at my parents' house. Cause you know, I was kind of didn't know where to go. You come home and it's sort of like school's over,

your placement's over and now you're sort of just lost. You're like, what am I going to do next? So I'm glad I did that because I went home, got rid of my school debts and, and uh, just got my grounding and I learned, I learned how to code and started selling website design. So I started doing this for restaurants and businesses and, uh, yeah, I moved to Collingwood to continue it, moved to Toronto to act.

And then while I was here, I was also bartending, serving, and then it hit me on an idea. When did you move here? I moved here in 2000. Oh, here. I just moved here last. So I would be, okay. You mean Toronto is November 23. You forgot where you were when you said, moved to Toronto, right? Right. So you moved to your last. So I would. Okay, you mean Toronto is November 23. You forgot where you were when you said move to Toronto. Right, right. So you moved to Toronto. Yep.

And you're just working in the puddle, right? Yes, I was there for a while and then I started 2006. Sorry, like I was 2004. It was an idea, but 2006 is when we opened the door. I created the world's first Google street view. So I actually beat Google to the patent office. Real true story. I had the paperwork, it's crazy.

And then I'm an idiot, Didn't get backers for it. I was a bartender struggling actor. It is what it is. And then I basically filed patent for this idea where you would advance down the street with a mouse or a button and you could click on the buildings and go inside. And so I had a working model. We submitted to the patent office, um, at a year. So I patent pending and I abandoned the patent. Oh, yeah. Probably gonna work with that. Probably would have been more something. But you know, what's funny is the accolades of like, everyone's like, do you not,

you don't dwell on them? I'm like, no, cause you know, the end of the day I looked at it like, Hey, I beat Google, a team of Google. I beat them to the office with an idea. I mean that may, it gave me power. I was like, I did something amazing. I don't, I don't need that. I don't need the, I don't need to be praised about it. Okay, but had I done it differently I might actually be dead though. I might have a lot of money. It would have been nice to be paid about it. Oh, yeah. Who cares about the praise? Just pay me.

And we joked about it because we're like if Google had, if I had gone through that and Google bought me at which they would have, I would have, who knows? Maybe I wouldn't be here right now. So yeah, good call. I mean that kind of money at 27, I would have died. Fair. Yeah, fair. Maybe I wouldn't be here right now. So yeah, good call them and that kind of money at 20. I would have died So that was cool and then basically Seven years later. I was I was trying to come up with a reinvention of my brand there and we still carried on the business We ended up doing animation and going to animation with the street so you can click on buildings and go in that way By the way, I'm the only guy that knows the holes in Google's patent because patents can't be repartn. It So once I file patent, they can't patent the same idea

so the things that I sent through are not patented by Google they're open source at that point as you might know for after a year the patent pending means that it can't be repatted again by anybody yeah including myself so I know the holes in it but it's pretty funny but anyway I digressed if you go back we were trying to recreate basically a loyalty program. So I came up with this idea that I was going to create a card, which was going to do what I'm doing now with the key. And I got in the shower and it was an hour and a half. That's how the key came to be is literally just 2014 in the shower. Sounds very weird. I spent

an hour and a half. I went from a card going in the shower to come out with an idea that the card's stupid. No one's going to buy a card. Cards are dying. I knew that no one's going to carry a card. How do I remarket that and make it cooler? And then the key hit me and I was like, and then we got like all this chip could be in it. And anyway, my head went crazy. Was it an hour and a half? My bill was crazy. Yeah. See, okay. So you get it done. Now here's the thing. You have no proof of concept. You have an idea. Yep. Talk to me about approaching the places you approached first. So I had that.

That was where I had it made because the site that I created, which is streets.to, it actually had that animation thing that I went through. So I was dealing with hospitality clients for like nine years in the end. And basically, so I already had restaurant partners. So it's just a pivot. Yeah. I just basically said, Hey, when these clients come in, you'll, you'll do something for them. And they're like, yes, that sounds great.

And they liked the idea produced a hundred keys is a test phase. And we had a party and people lost their minds. And I'm like, Oh shit, this isn't going to help my business. This is a new business. And this one's going to die. So I closed the other one. I actually migrated into this, this, which is, it's crazy. I go to find an idea to save one to bring it to the next level. And then you find an idea that's going to overtake it. It's crazy. So now you're in, you're in Toronto, Ontario, and then you are in Vegas now. What made you obviously look, it's the entertainment capital of the world, but

was it a daunting idea to come to Vegas and start this? Like what was the, it was, it was, um, it's funny. I think I've just been so confident in what we're doing and we built this thing in Canada and it's, uh, it's just been a, it, it was, it was, um, it's funny. I think I've just been so confident in what we're doing and we built this thing in Canada and it's, uh, it's just been amazing. So I knew how to do it. And it was just kind of, Hey, I'll approach businesses and say, you know, you should be, you should be on this is kind of cool. And I showed a working model and they're like, wow, that's, that's actually cool.

Yeah. We had never seen this before. And I thought that was weird. I thought when I came in, I would have more competition and there really wasn't. So that kind of shocked me. First to markets on the matters. Yeah. All the matters. I've heard there's other people who have tried. I mean, there's been people that have done similar ideas

with like a mobile app or like a card. They just didn't flourish, but this one had legs. I could tell by the way they would light up. Yeah. Like you did when I gave you the key, actually. I love that. Yeah, it was cool. I like that face. I mean, look, like I you did when I gave you the key, actually. I love that. I love that face. I like that face. I mean, look, I don't, like I said,

when I opened this show today, I said, man, people bring me shit all the time. I get stuff all the time. And very rarely do I say, this is kind of a cool story and let's talk about it. Let's talk about the business of the business. Sure. Which is, so obviously you just go to the,

you go to the, you go to the, you go to the Pugetta facilities, you show them now you have proof of concepts from other market markets, which is good. And by the way, we bring Toronto, Montreal members. So we have the, the keys are in those cities too. They have their own unique key and again, limited number, and they can now use it in other cities. Look at that because now you, okay, so now,

locals. So now you can cross market, you can cross market destination locations, which is really smart because now you can say, not only am I going to bring this, but now with the, all of these people come to Vegas, they're going to have a reason to come to you. That sort of helped open the door here because I mean, my business models built for hospitality. They, they like what we're doing because we're not greedy and we're smart about it. And we know that, listen, it has to be a partnership. You have to make money, I have to make money, and we have to work together.

So instead of charging you for marketing, we just want to welcome you because you fit on what we're going after. And I think it's going to be a match. And so we're sort of matchmakers and we're in the middle and we charge for the key and they charge for their service and everybody wins, including the key holder because the key holder, I'm just making them kind of go in without that hookup. They don't need a hookup anymore.

The key's their hookup. Well, let's talk about the process of actually getting the keys done. Obviously this is done in China. So Hong Kong, yeah, but we have a QC, so there's a little more in-depth with ours. We have a QC, which was really important because shipping of these keys,

quality control is everything. Yeah, for sure. And did you, did you just have prototypes back and forth or did you actually go? Yeah. So I have actually a firm out of the UK that actually handles it and it's their factory in Hong Kong. And so they go in and they check these on the line that on production day, they're actually testing these chips. Are they, are they in there? Are they looking right? Is the keys wrong? I mean, I used to see some of them will come off the line that of course don't look

right. It was nice having the QC because I think in literally probably 10 years, that's how long we've been doing almost. Um, I, I probably say three issues have failed three that were reported to us. And it was the key just wasn't in the package. Yeah. So that was interesting. That was, that was rare. Well let's, let's talk about problems in the business. Cause I mean, how do you, how do you do quality control with a location?

So you ever get a call from somebody who says like, dude, I took this key in this place to slide across the bar and they looked at me, the guy was nuts. Toronto was really hard when we first started Toronto businesses. Yeah. No one knew what it was. We were really starting something new. And part of this process, why I think I don't have a lot of competition is it's not easy. Yeah. I took the hard road. Everyone's doing apps now. I chose physicality cause I think I don't have a lot of competition is it's not easy. Yeah.

I took the hard road. Everyone's doing apps now. I chose physicality because I think it's important. I think people are losing track of, of what it used to be to touch something. And I think people love touching something. Yeah. But I mean, it's with all the turnover in all these places. How do you, how do you continue to educate the staffs in these restaurants to take care

of people at that level? The first few years was just train, retrain. And we constantly, if there was ever a report of anything that someone had an issue, we'd go back and retrain. It was just constant. And after, of course, the brand got known and people started getting more and more, people had it. The word spreads around really quick.

And all of a sudden, we haven't really had many issues. Vegas was a shocker. I actually thought it would be harder. I thought there would be some issues. Yeah, because people bounce a lot. Yeah. And to be honest, we've only really had a couple issues that were reported that were early on in our days. And what I like about Vegas,

I think it's a hospitality town. They train really well here. They train their staff and the staff don't leave. Cause I think the staff are making money. So it's great. And it's been easier. Do you, do you have like point of sale stuff that you leave at the bar? Like if somebody does this, you do this and it's there where they can see it. Yeah, we have an onboarding process. So we come in and we actually train. We leave a couple of keys for the staff to win. We want to make some of them key holders themselves, which is a really, really helped. It's gonna do that gets that culture going and makes them feel a part of the team, which they are. So and now you have a chance to win a $700 key and they're like, this is really cool. And yeah, it's worked out really well.

But yeah, it's it's definitely still, you know, we go in and train them and we do, we have an onboarding process for sure. How often do you go back and visit on premise and make sure things are going right? Pretty often. I mean, I've got, I've had a lot of awesome, awesome help and key holders, like some of them have turned into ambassadors. And, and I, that's when you know, you've built a good brand is that people are reaching out and like, can I do something? And they're key holders and I love it. That's a great question. That's a great question. So do you have, or have you built an affiliate program within like the bar,

within like the employees that work at these places? Not yet. That's definitely on the, that's definitely on the, on the thing is right there. That's the big one. That would be up. Cause dude, think about it. Somebody walks into a bar, slide this to the bartender. This guy goes, what was that? A hundred percent. Well, that's what our keywords are doing. It's funny cause they, they love showing it off too. So it's kind of cool for social. And that's the other part that I wanted to touch on is that it brought social back and that whole physicality aspect. Like I just spoke about is it, it, it gets people talking at the bar.

It's a conversation starter. And it's cool because some people are at a bar and they're on their own sometimes. And, and then they meet somebody next at a bar and they're on their own sometimes and then they meet somebody next to them and go, what is that key? And you could make a new friend and it's that simple. And I get a new key holder. I'm all about, dude, while I'm all about, look, if you want people to help you build your brand

and do right by your clients, help them, help them, be affiliate. I love affiliate programs. We have a referral program for key holders. We haven't got one set up for our bit our partners yet Yeah, that's awesome. I would I mean, I definitely need that for sure. That's awesome. Um agreed. So You mentioned you have staff, right? How many people on staff right now? It's minimal So we got obviously people in Toronto. So we got someone on the ground in Toronto Montreal

And I'm kind of just sort of the guy that's right now in Vegas I'm sort of just you know know, meeting businesses constantly and just, just basically making sure we onboard the right spots and meeting people and hosting parties. And, and, uh, and we got, obviously our bookkeepers, our, our social media people, um, live chats. We have a live chat service, which is really important. You have to have someone actually, someone, you know, once they reach out and have an issue, you want to have someone answers them. When you were, when you were building this and you were growing for another

Marcus, did you have a scaling plan? Did you understand like, okay, I need to backfill me here. I need this employee, need that employee. Sort of. Are you, are you, are you winging it a little bit? I definitely winged it when I came here. Okay. No question.

And I mean, I've, I've opened three cities. So I opened Vancouver after Toronto. So Toronto was 2015, 2017 was Vancouver, 2019 was Montreal. And then the pandemic, of course, love it. We don't want to talk about that, but yeah, I'm actually happy. But I mean, we ended up closing Vancouver because someone had to go and my hottest cities were Toronto, Montreal. Why did somebody have to go?

Um, it was, it was really hard to travel in 2020, 21 and to, to manage the cities and you know, the sales plummeted because she can't send anyone to restaurants. Yeah. I really got lucky in a way, but I got lucky is a bad word. I was fortunate in that I, that I had a way, but lucky is a bad word. I was fortunate in that I had a plan originally where I grandfathered. I still keep that now. So someone came into our program and bought early, then they kept their grandfathered rate for life. So every year they keep that rate and we don't change it. We'll never increase it.

Yeah, that's cool. So it turned out, it was kind of a mistake that worked out in our favor because we were very respectful of our members. And one day, pandemic rolls around. Yeah. We were preparing a letter to go out to everybody to refund their money because the keys had renewed, subscriptions had all renewed in Toronto and Montreal. And we started getting people writing us going, we don't want to lose our rate and we want to support you guys. And they'd tell us, keep their money. I'm like, huh, wait a minute, right? They want to keep the rate and renewing keeps the rate and they appreciate the loyalty.

So I was kinda touched by that. It was cool. And then we saw reciprocations. And I realized, okay, humanity is still there. So then we went and built takeout and delivery perks. And then I had to deliver. I'm like, I can't take your money and not deliver. So I still, I found a way to make it work, but crazy.

So what happens then? No, no, no. So as we're talking, like, just sorry, this is, this is really, if you're listening to this, this is really how I have business meetings. Like this is really like, this is more of a business meeting or podcast today, cause this is really it. Cause I'm just really interested in this.

So there's only one of you, right? You can't, it's, it's impossible for you to play leap, to play leapfrog, lily pad, lily pad, lily pad. That's my biggest issue. Why would you not do joint venture partnerships in other, in other cities where you have like, listen, we have, we have the IP, we have it all. We have proof of concept that you can walk in and get this done. Um, I will do a JV with you in this market and, and do 50 50,

because it seems to me, especially with the traveling benefit, the more lily pads you have, the better off you'll be. And if you can, and you can almost use the Disney model where you bring them in and make them stay here for a certain amount of time to train with you and really understand the business. Yep. It ain't a hard sell to get somebody to come to Vegas for three months or Toronto, exactly. More Vegas and Toronto, Toronto in the summer, Vegas for nine months.

That's fine. Um, okay, fair, fair, fair. That's fine, that's fine. I hate to say it. I have to shout out to Toronto. Toronto beats Vegas in the summer. Dude, I'm the guy that runs Orange County as much as I can in the summertime. I get it, I get it. But yeah, I would say, listen, man,

let's set up JVs in these other markets with people that have a hospitality background. I mean, find a local promoter that's been doing the small level, because here's the thing that the one thing that you have, right. And if people are thinking this, like, Oh fuck, I just ripped this off. Do it myself, but I could just do this myself. I think the one thing that you have that would make this really difficult for

anybody to do is that proof of concept. And I was wondering and Polish in as part of the story, how you got it done was that nine year relationship prior in another business that you had that got you there. Of course. But I think this is going to be, it's like, if somebody walked in and they're like, what? Like, like dude, just cause you're a bartender, doesn't mean you're going to be able to pull this off or just cause you can bring in ladies on a Thursday night.

Doesn't mean you can pull this off. I call it promoter and I hate that word. Cause I'm like, I'm not a promoter. I love promoters by the way. Yes. But I'm not a promoter. Right. And there's a difference. But I think that's your pool to find that person to bring in and be a partner in

these businesses. Yes. On the markets. You hit the nail on the head because you know, we're looking at other cities obviously, and obviously want to grow this, but it's, um, we actually have two that are coming up. Um, but the idea was exactly that. I might, my goal is to is to go around and basically onboard the cities with a partner. And essentially each city has its own ambassador, its own partner. Yeah. And then they're cut in, they're cut in and they buy in and you don't want to call it franchise because then you have to

file that. I hate, I hate franchise. Well, you'd have to file the paperwork. So it's not, they're an actual joint venture partner of that particular LLC. That's part of the mothership does this. Exactly. And the beauty of the program, right? Another reason why people don't really, again, I haven't had anyone take us on is that one, it's a lot of work. Um, it's definitely that work. It's funny cause you got to onboard and train and retrain. You got to polish a product that's physical. I mean, I imagine my competitor is going to be in the form of an app.

They'll go the easy route, but where I win is that we, we're opening them up locally based on locals best. And then we sew them together. Every city I open is just more reach. So a Vegas key works in Toronto, Montreal, by the way. Yeah. And so if I open at Scottsdale, which is the plan next, and, and a DFW, you're not going to be able to reach those and their keys will reach Vegas. So that's where this grows. You go, you go to heavy and like heavy convention cities. Like you do this,

and then you pull off New Orleans, you pull off Atlanta, you pull off Miami, you pull off Tampa, Nashville, pull off Nashville. I mean, but we really focused on locals to the heart part for me. And you're right. Conference is a big market. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, markets is those are places where I have to go as a local from here all the time. True. So now I'm always in Dallas. I'm always in, I gotta go to Dallas in 10 days. I'm always in, I gotta go to Miami. I gotta go to Orlando. I have to go to Atlanta. I have to go to these places. For sure. So we're inside the airport there by the

way. What's that? So we have the airport lounge there actually. So we work with the club LAS and they're also obviously there in Dallas DFW. So yeah, so we're starting, man. It's not dude for DFW that the new, um, what is it? Is it the new, I see it as the new chase lounge. Oh, that was a Delta. Maybe I'm missing. I don't know. I can't remember which airport I got. I'm in so many airports. I can't remember. I know. Dude, chase has a new lounge for really fire. That's just really, dude, it's lights out. Okay. Rushes the Centurion. Oh, I got to check this out. Rushes the chair.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't remember where it was, but yeah, dude, it's wild. It's wild. Okay. Wildly better. Yeah. That gets exciting then.

That's where I want to, I want to see this grow for sure. You know what? It's in Denver. That's where it is. It's in Denver. Okay. Okay. But no, dude, look, look, I, Denver's another place.

I can see Denver's another one. Boston, New York, Miami, Miami. Man. It's so many. I gotta tell you, if I wasn't running like nine companies already. I'd be saying dude. Let's JV. Let's do this Let's go. I love it. This is just seems like I mean again do the math and and I mean it's the bottom Starting a city is expensive, but you're right. You're right I mean in terms of my the margins are insane when you actually build it out. I was going to say like your one is probably tough, right? But year two, you have a 92% renewal.

This is where the money can be made. Yeah, exactly. I mean, exactly, dude. But you know, at the end of the day, it's that it's that a lot of people aren't willing to wait. So it's sort of that's where I'm patient. I'm a patient guy. That's also part of the concept when I don't charge for marketing for our partners we curate in.

Cause my time is money. So as you know, time's everything. It's way more than money. And if I'm going to market you, I got to really believe you're a fit. Because if I'm not taking money from you, which I don't do, if I'm not taking money from you,

I'm not going out there looking to sign on businesses to make money. I eliminated the human nature component. My idea was that the minute there's money incentive, then you could fail and go out and try and make money because maybe you're short for a month. Maybe you wanna make a little extra money and you end up losing your focus.

Well, I think definitely as part of the interview process through this JV thing would be, A, are you capitalized? You need somebody with a little bit of, they gotta put skin in the game. You can't just do sweat equity. Correct. Number one, but two, I would say like, give me your 10 best relationships in the hospitality industry who are, let me see where these pieces are. And then you can vet those places and be like, okay, cool.

If they, no, I'd probably say 20. I wouldn't say I was going to say 20 something. If they don't have at least 20, then why am I even talking to you? This may not work. It's not going to work for you. You need to have at least 20. We said I have relationships in all of these places and I could probably put this to the table. Bro, I would and then, and then teach them that the pro and I've got the process down. We've got the policy because here's the thing, right? You going onesies like this, right? Is, is great slow, but,

but, but, but, but you're not getting the highest and best use of return on your time. It's true. Because if you were doing three markets at once, you can bring three people in to train at the same time. It's true, man. That's a quantum leap. I've even thought about, you know, dedicating three, four months to each city we bring on each year where I would onboard them. And that's the plan is that I would actually go and onboard and you can't,

you can't, you can't do that. I could, I could. Yeah. If you're going to grow slow, you know, but you could do three, four a year. It's not crazy. You can do, you could literally, you you're gonna grow slow, you know, but you could do three four here. It's not crazy Yeah, you can dude you could literally you could launch six and I guess I'm just super careful I was like I said, I'm a really patient. I'm a weird cat. No, but you gotta admit but you gotta remember this too, right? You remember this right? Even if let's let's say let's say you brought on 12 JV partners right here 12 JV partners and bring on launch 12 cities this year Yep, right. I'm gonna do two runs of six people coming to town to learn the business. Right.

Simultaneously, I'm gonna launch six at a time. Right. If three of them fail, if four of them fail, you still are twice the growth rate that you are now. It's true, but I don't want any failure. Wow, fuck no. You gotta break a couple eggs, man. You gotta break some eggs here.

You're gonna have to break some eggs. And there's an old adage, you know this, less is more sometimes. And I'll be honest with you, like I said, I'm the most patient business guy you're ever gonna meet. Dude, I'm okay with making my money and then maybe I'll make more next year. I'm that kind of mentality.

I always like making more, but I don't like to, I'm not a rush, I'm not a rush guy. But one thing I will say, part of the process that's isn't really, unless you really think it out, you really have to integrate yourself. I've learned that here. You have to integrate yourself with the right circles of people that takes more than, than just, you know, you can't just bring them into the same train. That's why you need the JV.

No, we have to teach them the process of how, and that takes longer than a couple of weeks. I hate to say it. Okay. And by the way, I would love to hear your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your,

your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your I'll do your route. Your route's quicker. I like it. You're doing incredibly well. I move so fast, dude. That's fair. I like that. We move. But here's the thing. I've also, I've taken multiple seven figure losses in my business career, right? Which I have.

I've won a lot more than I've lost, but I move very fast. Because I just, for me, if I see anything, if I see anything that's there, if I have proof of concept, and I know that it's proof of concept, I wanna go as big and as fast as I can. 100%.

No, and I get you. This is where it's- I'm not gonna get a cattle prod and just chase you and zap you with it. And it's funny, I've been pushed by some business guys, they lose their minds, they're like, why are you growing so slowly? I'm like, I just, I'm happy.

I know I'm building it up, right? I'm trying to be careful. And right now, to be honest, I'm still kind of, I have, I have a Polish brand, the brand sexy and that's what they get a lot of love with. And I really, I love that. I'm blessed and I built it. But, but I'm also still kind of like, you know, there's things I want to polish still before I jump. And then you're right. It may change. It may get to a point where it can go like, okay, we'll talk about offline. I did find a couple. I found a couple of things on the website last night because I did good.

Well, there's just a couple of things that you need to fix. And I did see a couple of things. So I will, I'll, I'll, I'll digress with you there. I'll say that. That's a, that's a valid point. There's a couple of things you may want to polish, but I, I just love, would love to see you go faster with partners. Dude, if you're listening, here's what, here's the deal. If you're listening to this right now, if you're out there in Happyville, if you live in any of those major metropolitan cities

that we just talked about, or a major metropolitan city that we didn't talk about, and you are a man, a woman about town. If you are a, if you're in the beverage business, if you're a beverage rep, and you have personal relationships with all these places, dude, reach out, Hit my man Tim. Tim, how are they going to find you?

How are they? Right now, how do they find you? So you want to go to key.vegas. My email is pretty easy. It's tim at key.vegas. And yeah, you can download the app. The app's really cool. I don't know if we didn't talk about the app.

But I'm saying no. But hit Tim up. But you want to reach out to him. Hit Tim up and say, Tim. I'm open. I'm open. I got you. Dude, I got you. I appreciate it. I love you. Because the I got I got you just think it appreciate this one thing about you

Somebody works for diazio or or one of the big beverage companies that is on premise with all of these bars and restaurants That's a whole world. They're already ready to go. They already know everybody they've been standing They've been standing on premise buying drinks for people. I was so funny. I was talking about yesterday I looked up an old buddy of mine, Dave your road from Florida. Okay When Red Bull first came out. Oh, yeah, actually Florida. Okay. Um, when Red Bull first came out, Oh yeah, actually from Atlanta is where Dave was. When Red Bull first came out, we were laughing about it because my buddy Dallas got the job. I never thought it would be that big. It's crazy.

Well he got the job in Orlando as the on-premise account manager, which meant you gave my buddy Dallas a credit card. They could go out to any nightclub in Orlando and buy open tabs for people as long as you're in Red Bull. Really bad worst. Worst job ever. It was wild. And it was like, look man, and that's, he's, it was wild. You just turned him loose in downtown Orlando and it just... With a Red Bull corporate card. It was wild. It was wild. Tell me he went on a few of those. No dude, of course. Well what's funny is, is Daveyy Road, how I got to know him.

He's the national premise major. He still is. I looked him up yesterday because I just thinking about him. I wonder if he still looks for Red Bull. So I looked him up. I got to get him on the show. It'd be interesting show that. There you go.

And and million years ago, before Red Bull was out, I was running a nightclub in Atlanta and I'd heard about this drink that was taken over Europe. Right. Red Bull and vodka. You could not buy it in the States. There was one like German food store, like European food store, like like many whole foods in Atlanta and they sold it.

One location. Yes. So one of our bartenders is a guy named Peter Pfaffenbichler. Pfaffenbichler, if you listen, what's up? God, Peter Pfaffenbichler. I thought my name was not. No, no, he was, he was Austrian or German or one of those things. I don't know what it was. But he's the one that told me about this. And I said, go to that store and buy a can of it.

So he went and bought a can of it. And right when they were running this big article of all the top nightclubs in Atlanta, that like you had your own page, whatever. And so what's your signature drink? And I said, our signature drink is Grey Goose and Red Bull. And it had a picture of the bottle, a picture of the can. Clever. And I get a phone call from is Grey Goose and Red Bull. I had a picture of the bottle, picture of the can. Clever.

And I get a phone call from this guy, Davey Road. He's like, where are you getting Red Bull? And I'm like, who's this? And he goes, this is Davey Road. I'm the national accountant manager for Red Bull. Where are you getting my product? It's not out. It's not out the bars yet.

And I go, well, I know, I just want to be first. I'm first in. I just want to be first. First in. And he started laughing and he goes, okay, you're first. Respect. And that's how I got it. Respect want to be first. I'm first in man. I just want to be first. First in. And he started laughing and he goes, okay, you're first. Respect. And that's how I got it.

Respect. Yeah, so. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we always kind of had a little bit of a bond. That was funny. It's kind of like the vape of today. They started, they said, it's all good, it's good.

And then one day they're like, oh wait, it's bad. Yeah, it's terrible for you. It's terrible for you. Well, dude, look, man, that's a great story of building your company. I think it's a great business dude, look, man, that's a, it's a great story of, of building your company. I think it's a great business. I thank you, man. I'm going to prod you to get these JVs going in other markets. I appreciate that. Cause I trust you. You're a good businessman. I love what you've done with simply Vegas. Yeah, I'm sitting here. I'm just, I'm just,

I'm dude, I'm already thinking of people that I know in markets. I say, dude, you got to get with this guy. Let's go. Let's go. You know, maybe there'll be something, maybe throw a little something for me. Oh, a so check it out man key to city and the mobile app check it out you can download it and dude I gotta tell you if you don't hear that story that's bootstrapping something from nothing does no rent no owning no whatever just making it happen dude if you got a dream you got to go get it I'll see you next week what's up everybody thanks for joining us for another episode

of Escaping the Drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you wanna learn more about the show, you can always go over to escapingthedrift.com. You can join our mailing list, but do me a favor. If you wouldn't mind, throw up that five star review, give us a share, do something, man.

We're here for you. Hopefully, you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you in the next episode.