This is the full transcript for Episode #262 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Gary Gottdiener – The Sample Group. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Gary Gottdiener 0:00
If you have great loyalty to your family, friends, and customers, I think it comes right back at you
Max Branstetter 0:22
Hello Hello Hello. Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting. And you get it sometimes it sounds like bodcasting, BOD. No, it’s podcasting, MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode 262 and it is the sixth annual Thanksgiving family special episode. If you’re not familiar, it has become a tradition every episode that we drop during Thanksgiving week involves a family member, a special family business tie. And this episode is another All-Star extra special guest. Today’s guest is Gary Gottdiener. If that name sounds familiar, it is because he is my father-in-law. Gary is in addition to being the father of my beautiful wife, Dana, he is the President and Owner of The Sample Group, and one of the best dudes you will ever come across. I don’t know how he feels about me calling him a best a dude. But in this episode, we talk all things with his business, his top business and life lessons, the rollercoaster of a journey, as well as some fantastic memories from the wedding. And of course, a look at Gary’s liquor cabinet. It is Double G. Enjoyyyyyyyyy the showwwwww!
Alllllllrightyyyyy we’re here for a an extra special Thanksgiving family Family Business Edition of the wild boast of the wild Business Growth podcast where I’ve already stumbled and voice cracked. And we’re going to keep that in. But not only is this a special episode, where I’m interviewing my father in law, Gary Gottdiener. We’re also recording this on the one year anniversary of the night before Dana & I’s wedding. And this is the first ever Wild Business Growth Podcast episode where the host and guests may be slightly intoxicated because we’re consuming these really high alcohol Heineken Lights during it. So, Gary, this has been a long time coming really excited to dive into your story learn more about you in the business. Thank you for coming to your own house. How you doing today?
Gary Gottdiener 2:59
I’m doing great. Very excited to be here, I think, I
Max Branstetter 3:02
think is the right answer. And I think you have no idea what you’re getting into. But no, we joked before this that, you know, the easy way to do this would just be to make this a wedding recap, part two, where we just talk about the wedding hadn’t reminisce from a year ago, the entire time, and we’re not going to do that. But I do want to start in that way because you’re, you know, the the host, the organizer, the maitre d of the best night of our lives. And so I wanted to know, from your perspective, what was the highlight of the wedding for you?
Gary Gottdiener 3:35
The highlighting the wedding for me was when that hurricane decided not to come towards us and turn north and save us from a pretty bad situation.
Max Branstetter 3:46
Yeah.
Gary Gottdiener 3:48
But if but if you want to get into the wedding itself, I had to say my first look had to be the major piece there for sure.
Max Branstetter 3:57
I totally agree. And I thought You look great. Dana looked okay, but, Wow. No, no, you’re
Gary Gottdiener 4:03
going home with her tomorrow. I don’t see her until Thanksgiving. No,
Max Branstetter 4:07
no, but just endlessly stunning and beautiful. And those are some of the best pictures from the wedding is your first look. And it’s your it sounds it sounds like Aries first. It’s
Gary Gottdiener 4:18
still on my phone is as the you know, what do we call that? Facepage?
Max Branstetter 4:24
The Facepage. But you mentioned the stress and you and you mentioned that in your speech on the wedding night of how much stress there was leading up to the what you know, wedding planning has enough stress to begin with. And then when you have, oh, a hurricane decided to come right like aimed at Addison reserve, seeing
Gary Gottdiener 4:40
that the Palm Beach County closed on Wednesday for the entire county that’s pretty bad seeing that that could have been three days earlier three days later. Yeah.
Max Branstetter 4:50
And I still can’t believe that. Everyone made their flights like there were very few cancellations and delays everybody
Gary Gottdiener 4:57
made their flights COVID Good. I think we did pretty good based on everything that was happening at the time. And people got extra time down in Florida seeing that few people came a few days early, so the Party began a little little sooner.
Max Branstetter 5:15
So that was the best night of our lives. Today’s the second best day of our life because we’re recording this interview. But I do want to get into your foray into the business world and your career and company and I want to start somewhat of the beginning. I want to start off at college. So you went to University of Rochester or Rochacha, as they say.
Gary Gottdiener 5:37
Some people may say that not everyone. I don’t know if
Max Branstetter 5:41
the local the local Rochacha-ans say, What did you think at the time that you started your studies? What did you think you quote unquote, wanted to be when you grew up?
Gary Gottdiener 5:52
I was going to be a dentist. Really? A dentist? Yes. So I went to school there because they had a good program. I basically went to biology 101 and dropped that course pretty quick and said, I’m not going to be a dentist anymore.
Max Branstetter 6:12
What was it those two sides of that? What was it about? The idea of dentistry that got you excited about that as a potential career path first?
Gary Gottdiener 6:20
I actually don’t know. I mean, at one point, my dad was thinking about being a dentist. And I thought it was kind of a cool direction. I’m good with my hands. And I just quickly found out that that’s not where I needed to be.
Max Branstetter 6:36
And what was it about biology class that? Had you turn around and say, Nope, right away,
Gary Gottdiener 6:42
was too tough. I found that the sciences are really really tough areas, especially up in Rochester, New University. So yeah, we took a different course very quickly.
Max Branstetter 6:54
Definitely. You mentioned your go with your hands that funny little aside, you literally fixed a screw in Dana’s bathroom right before this interview, because the sliding door stopped working. So your your handyman through and through,
Gary Gottdiener 7:07
and we got a lot of tools in the garage for sure.
Max Branstetter 7:11
So how did you then decide to pivot to something in the business and marketing route after that
Gary Gottdiener 7:19
I started in political science was my major and minored in economics. So Rochester didn’t have an undergraduate business degree, graduated from the University of Rochester looking for a job in the business world, which I felt was more in line with what I wanted to do.
Max Branstetter 7:38
So you started working at a biology company, just so I know then that you ended up working at a company, economy color card,
Gary Gottdiener 7:49
we can go back 1982 When I graduated was a tough year. We had a good sizeable recession at the time and hiring wasn’t there was not a lot of hiring. It was very tough to get a job. And so I was looking, I sent out lot of resumes, got a lot of them filed away, but nothing kind of happened. And that’s when my father who was in the business world in textiles, told me to go see a couple of companies actually and one ended up to be what you had said economy color card. I sent my resume there, I met with the sales manager at the time, basically says if I could teach him tennis, I could be hired.
Max Branstetter 8:33
That’s actually true. Quid pro quo. That’s a good thing to have to resume as a tennis instructor. And
Gary Gottdiener 8:38
that was actually the last resume ever, ever wrote.
Max Branstetter 8:42
Your father, Steve, Dana’s grandpa, so he had the connection to connection.
Gary Gottdiener 8:46
Yeah, a couple of connections. And I kind of ended up you know, interviewing with a couple of different companies. But this one was the one that I ended up with. And
Max Branstetter 8:57
real quick, what would you mentioned, Steve was in textiles. What specifically was his business focused on?
Gary Gottdiener 9:03
He was a knitter of women’s wear.
Max Branstetter 9:05
Really? I did not know that I just knew was textiles. I didn’t know the specifics.
Gary Gottdiener 9:10
We made peace goods, which is basically he would sell them to people that made them into dresses. Oh, wow.
Max Branstetter 9:18
That’s awesome. This explains why Dana loves dresses so much. I think it goes back multiple generations
Gary Gottdiener 9:23
and Charl to
Max Branstetter 9:26
blood relatives, Academy color cards, so you ended up spending multiple, almost multiple decades there. What kind of stuff did you do there?
Gary Gottdiener 9:37
I was in sales. Right from the start. The original job was working in the textile market and fashion at you know, on Seventh Avenue. And I would actually go from floor to floor, you know, soliciting different businesses that were there to you know, do that what we call the swatching and And basically we would do the merchandising of their materials.
Max Branstetter 10:03
Is this what people think of the typical sales role where it’s kind of like you’re on commission, like, you’re just kind of gotta hustle all the time. Pretty much cold calling I
Gary Gottdiener 10:13
was in the beginning, it was brutal was all cold calling. I went from Florida floor, looking for business. And at that time, the company was smaller the the owner of the company, Don Ackerman was growing the business. He was going into different industries. The original industry was basically the garment centers as we knew it, then that he was getting into wallpaper in different types of catalogs.
Max Branstetter 10:42
What would you say? Are some of the biggest lessons you learned from that stage in your career? When you’re doing the full full time sales thing?
Gary Gottdiener 10:49
I hated cold canvassing.
Max Branstetter 10:53
What do you hate about it? Oh,
Gary Gottdiener 10:55
it’s just brutal. I mean, to be have to go in and explain who and what you do. And then they say, Yeah, okay. And here’s the door, let it hit you on the way out, or we have somebody we’re happy with. And we’ll call you when we need you have the lines? I don’t think anybody actually likes that part of the business. Well,
Max Branstetter 11:17
it’s tough. I think you got to get used to a lot of defeat and a lot of getting, you know, slapped in the face and in the face with the door and hearing no, a lot.
Gary Gottdiener 11:27
Yes. Yes, absolutely. You have to have a thick skin. So
Max Branstetter 11:31
over over your time with economy color card, and I know it kind of turned into another company as well. Over that time, how much did your role change from those early sales days, there’s
Gary Gottdiener 11:44
always forks in the road road. And I got kind of lucky, somebody in the company had mentioned that there’s an industry that we weren’t in at the time. And that was a window coverings, you know, as far as shades, mini blinds, what people would call the level lores was a generic term. So I actually went to one of those shows, they were from the business I was bringing in, in the textile garment area. These were huge jobs. And very quickly, I built relationships in the industry started to be very successful in sales in this industry. You
Max Branstetter 12:26
said, Love alors? What’s the name for that?
Gary Gottdiener 12:29
leveler, leveler, like Kleenex to people? In the old days, you say, Oh, you make love Alors, you know,
Max Branstetter 12:37
gee, I knew I’d learned a lot today. And I didn’t know I’d learn a whole new word. So this is really eye opening.
So let’s get to more of your entrepreneurship journey. Let’s get to the sample group. So kind of you kind of alluded to it there. But at what point did it become clear that you’re actually going to start a whole separate business one day, when
Gary Gottdiener 13:00
I was terminated? Relax. That’s a good, reasonably good reason. If you have to go back a little further, the company that Don Ackerman had built, was going to take another leap forward, and an investment group was going to put money into it and grow the business at that point. Don had actually taken us from, I guess, Brooklyn, which I was never part of, to New Jersey. And then we built the structure or in Mexico. And at that point, the investment group came in, and was going to take it to another level. That investment group didn’t last long, they decided the investment wasn’t great investment for them, or it didn’t match up to what they were looking for. And I always say it’s kind of like a monopoly. When you kind of done with the board game, you kind of crease the board in half, and all those hotels and everything just fall back into the box. Right? Well, that was that was pretty much it. But there was an opportunity at that point that they offered me the machinery. I took that opportunity along with what was at that point, my alter ego Permanente, and the two of us now have a ton of machinery, and they gave us good terms. And I needed to find a home for that. Which was actually interesting because my father at the time, was on his way to retiring who had a very nice plant in North Carolina, Asheville, and was willing to give us space there. We brought all the machinery we could from Roselle, New Jersey as well as for Mexico, and we set up shop there and within probably about six months we took over the entire plant might find other cat to retire and we started the business down there was
Max Branstetter 15:05
shout out your longtime partner Pat and shout out Asheville, a little foreshadowing. We’ll get to more Asheville stuff in a little bit. It mainly be just because Dana and I love Asheville. But you know, from day one that was it, was it called the sample group yet? Or did that come later? Nope,
Gary Gottdiener 15:23
that when we we set up shop, we actually needed a new name for our company. And it was the sample group.
Max Branstetter 15:32
Or like, it’s, it’s funny these days, I feel like so many companies, and it applies in the podcast world to like, people try to be so overly complex with their name. And people. There’s kind of like a movement now to just be as straightforward as possible and like good with search terms. And so the sample group like you immediately know what’s related to samples and sample book. Yeah, but
Gary Gottdiener 15:51
it was also that we put group there this because we’re tiny little company, but it sounds like we were Yeah. Was a big was a bigger group.
Max Branstetter 16:00
This is like, one of those like scenes and shows and movies where they’re like, yeah, let me forward you on to like my assistant. And then it’s like the same person. Yeah, we had a few that you shop at the Groucho mustache. So the sample group, so how, what were the early days of that, like, like, how did you manage to start winning clients and actually, you know, start to bring business in? Well,
Gary Gottdiener 16:25
that was the other success or lucky piece of the puzzles. Since the investment group was out, they really weren’t focused on this piece of the business. At that point, we were also doing flooring, they kept that but they let me take all my customers from the window coverings, we were very lucky that our customer base or the largest piece of it came with us and gave us that opportunity to do business for them
Max Branstetter 16:53
should look back now, you know, coming up on two and a half decades in business, which is awesome. You know, there’s all the stats about most businesses don’t make it six months or a year, whatever the latest stats are on that. But it’s really been a huge part of your family and your kids life as Dan and Adam have grown up. When you look back over the time of the business, what have been, like your tried and true kind of biggest products or biggest, I guess sectors that that you made sample books in. One of
Gary Gottdiener 17:24
the window coverings for sure was is the largest, we had the largest programs running for many years, and there was ups and downs. In that time period, we had a factory in Mexico, we had a factory in China. through those ups and downs, we ended up back just in North Carolina. But certainly the window coverings industry has been very good to us as far as the amount of business that we brought in. And we also ups and downs with the flooring business, eventually we were able to regain, but also was good because we were able to work to different industries that use different machinery and skills. So it kind of worked to our benefit.
Max Branstetter 18:08
And for anybody who’s listening and not familiar with your business, what are the main you don’t need to list specific names? But what are the what’s the typical client that you work with? Like what are they stores? Or is it like b2b or
Gary Gottdiener 18:22
it’s manual main manufacturing, the Hunter Douglases of the world, the Armstrongs of the world, were original clients of ours, different divisions as those companies, especially under Douglas grew into different divisions, we were very successful in being able to work with all those different divisions. So although it was one main company, it was a lot of different people, different divisions that was like working with separate companies, not
Max Branstetter 18:54
trying to make you reveal any IP or trade secrets or patents here. So you can answer if you if you want, or not. But how have you like one of the things that amazes me about your business is the fact that you work with so many different materials? Like it’s a ton, you know, it’s fully custom, it’s very hands on? How have you been able to over the years work with such a range of clients and like different materials and, you know, not drive people crazy? Well, I
Gary Gottdiener 19:21
mean, I think that was part of where I even started when I was gonna go into dentistry is good with my hands have a really good understanding of design of coming up with different opportunities with the sampling. And I would basically come back to the factory after meeting with a customer and say, we need to design this a lot of the stuff that we did was always custom, it was always new. We didn’t know if it would work. And I was always bringing something strange in and between my partner and I, I brought it in and kind of gave him the concept of what we’re trying to do and he would kind of make it happen. So we Were a good team, how
Max Branstetter 20:01
many years or months or days or decades? In? Did you feel like, alright, this is like a real business with momentum, like we’ve, you know, we’ve reached a good level.
Gary Gottdiener 20:14
Well, actually, we had big levels and very small, tight and small levels. I don’t know, I think it was on a yearly basis, you know, I think my partner and I would get to, you know, the holidays, you know, in the year and we, you know, toasted each other that we made it through another year, I don’t know that we ever thought that it was big or small, it was just what we kind of did. And always, we’re just looking to the next year that you know, what the future would bring, we did, you know, try to buy companies. And, you know, like I said, build factories in different countries and things like that. And the end, it all kind of worked out.
Max Branstetter 20:52
That’s something that you hear about so often with entrepreneurship is like, even if you think something’s going to be smooth sailing, there’s always a roller coaster of up and down. And, and there is kind of a sentiment of like, Oh, like that guy, we made it through another year. You just kind of internally, how were you in Are you able to manage and navigate so many ups and downs, you know, over time like that,
Gary Gottdiener 21:15
some of it just lucky, just when you think things are going the wrong way you get into water, or you got a new customer, others, you know, Pat, my partner was very good at shrinking the company when it needed to and expanding when he needed to. We were the ying and yang, I was a sales and finance. And he was operations production. And, you know, established a good team Dan and Asheville. And between the two of us, we, you know, we complemented each other pretty well,
Max Branstetter 21:46
I have to compliment you know, just kind of like those roles, like those are really good roles that complement each other with you. And, Pat, how did you decide those in the early days?
Gary Gottdiener 21:57
Well, that’s where we started, I was started, we both actually I met Pat, he was already an economy collar card when I got there in 1982. And so we started the company in 1999. So Pat, and I were pretty much as I was growing the sales business, Pat became the inside operations guy for basically my work. So we worked together for many, many years, had started basically as a printer in the company, and ended up to run all the operations for my sales. So when the investment group, let me go first. And Pat was still there. And I was, you know, started trying to figure out how we were going to do this, Pat was all gained to you know, jump on board was just a matter of time, probably that he would have got laid off in between the two of us, our roles were pretty much established already. And my father gave me gave us, like I said, the the initial plan, and support because we use a lot of his people in the beginning. So we kind of hit the sidewalk running. It’s a beautiful thing that you know, probably one of your lowest moments when you get to nobody likes getting laid off. But it turned out to be a real blessing in disguise, because that opened the door for this beautiful business that you’ve built and, and been a huge part of the family a huge part of your life.
Max Branstetter 23:22
Did you Did you ever think from the early days of starting the sample group that this would be something that, you know, can last and grow over multiple decades, was
Gary Gottdiener 23:31
hoping but every every day was a new adventure and those ups and downs. But the being laid off was not a surprise to me, you know, as we were like maneuvering through what the investment group direction was, it was it was just a matter of time. So I was already, you know, thinking of what the next play would be. And when eventually that happened. You know, we had to move kind of quickly. We were just lucky that our customers were willing to support us.
Max Branstetter 24:03
Yeah, and that’s, that’s everything. Those moments that were more peaks for the company as opposed to the valleys. What would you say have been the biggest driver, like the secret sauce that’s worked really well for you and the company that had had have led to growth over the years.
Gary Gottdiener 24:22
It’s a loyalty to my customers, no matter what was happening, we were supporting them. I mean, in an industry, where you’re everything’s custom, and everything’s new, and they’re coming out with new products, that we would do everything we could to make sure that we hit deliveries, because at the same time we’re trying to figure out how to produce for them. They’re actually making their new goods and hoping that those goods are going to be acceptable in the marketplace. So again, it was they were working on what they needed to get done because it’s an interest See an industry that I’m in that the biggest resource or that we’re using is their goods. So it’s not like I’m taking working with my vendors to make something for them, I do that. But the biggest piece that it’s been supplied to me is from the customer. So the customers goods aren’t good, or they’re late or anything kind of stops suit for manufacturing. So it’s always been, you know, a very tough scenario, my biggest customer, my biggest supplier is my customer, which is not normal in an industry. Most industries, you know, you buy metal from x, you buy, you know, glue from y and you make something and then you sell it, I have to wait for my customers goods in order to produce. Yeah, it’s
Max Branstetter 25:49
a really, really cool, really unique business and set up there. I think that loyalty piece is so strong. And if you think about any family business, or any, you know, what started as, quote unquote, small business over the years, that customer service is like everything, like that’s why people love working with businesses like that, and, you know, go over the top for your customers. And in your case, it’s over the top for your suppliers at the same time. So that’s pretty cool. Two birds, one stone, but in addition to making sure that, you know, shipments deliveries are on time, not delayed, things like that. What else has been super valuable for you as a company just to make sure that you’re always going over the top for those, you know, loyal customers?
Gary Gottdiener 26:32
Well, it’s my team, you know, for sure. I mean, we’ve always had a really good team between you know, Pat, Susan, I mean, most of my my team has been with me for a very long time, certainly from the beginning. And when we started Nashville, 99, and very supportive, and our operations and systems that are in place, catch a lot of our customers, mistakes and issues, you know, early on, so that we’re able to make them look good. And which then makes us look good.
Max Branstetter 27:06
So you segwayed brilliantly. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to talk more about Asheville. And that’s another really interesting part of your life. And the business is that, you know, I wondered as your work schedule, often it’s almost like you’re traveling consultant where you’ll fly during the week, you’ll work in Nashville fly back. I know, Dana has mentioned that growing up there, a lot of times that you fly down Nashville will be by, you know, work at the plant during the week, be back for the weekends, or later in the week, which, you know, there’s a lot of perks to being in person. But also, you know, obviously that can be difficult with family time. So I want to dig into that. And then kind of Asheville as a whole. But how would you characterize kind of that travel heavy schedule that you’ve had for so long?
Gary Gottdiener 27:52
It’s very hard, especially when the kids were young. But I was able to always kind of maneuver my schedule around family time, I was always home on weekends. And certainly if they had something that was important during the week, I would work around that schedule. I always said that I was no different than some guy on Wall Street, who worked late at night came home, you know, and the kids were already in bed. So and then they left early in the morning. So during the week, I was gone a lot. It was very tough for me, because not only did I need to get to Asheville, but he also went out to see customers. So it wasn’t like I was just going down there every other week. But that’s where, you know, my partner pack came in, he was operation. So he’s in Nashville more than I was in those days. We actually, we shared an apartment in the early days, we ended up with our own laces later. But you know, we were tight knit group at that time.
Max Branstetter 28:51
So there’s a couple aspects of that, that really, really fascinated about one kind of on the tougher note that you mentioned, like how have you been able to still feel as connected and close to you know, family, your kids, Sheryl as possible, like when you were traveling on that, because you know this, this was long before FaceTime started and technology like that, I
Gary Gottdiener 29:12
guess it was phone calls. And again, you know, the everyday type thing I didn’t necessarily see but I would say the important occasions I was always there. It was just what in the sacrifices of building the business. I think most people are in that situation to some degree. Nobody, nobody in those days or even now as a nine to five, a lot more people can work from home and in fact, you know, for since the technologies came, it was less traveled to the plant because we were already use the new technologies that popped up like the zooms and things like that. In fact, I’d say that we’ve used that a lot more especially with COVID. I think that convinced the entire world which just was easy for me nobody was traveling. So Oh, and customers didn’t even want to see you. So there was a lot more phone or Zoom conference calls, things like that. So it’s a funny
Max Branstetter 30:08
place to be in when customers want that don’t they don’t want to see you or they want no party right now. But I was joking with you that you were really ahead of the curve on that travel schedule. Because I just saw an article on LinkedIn. That was I forget the term, it’s like super commuting or something like that, where now, there’s a growing number of people where their commute is technically four or five hours each way, because they live in a completely different state. And they’ll fly somewhere where they just have to be in the office once or twice a week. And so you really were ahead of the curve on that. It’s kind of kind of what you were doing
Gary Gottdiener 30:43
pretty much every other week, I would do that. I mean, actually, the travel was very interesting piece of a puzzle. Because when I started in 1982, you know, in the 80s, one, you had to use a map. And you also had that line. And you had to find a payphone to call into the office, you know, for all my travels that I had to go do you had no idea what where you were half the time. And if you got to have a car, I’d get on the payphone. And I’d start looking around and realize you know what, maybe this wasn’t the best place to pull over and get back in the car and call them later. But, you know, I mean, everything that you have now the conveniences of having cell phones, and Google Maps, or whatever. I mean, nobody, nobody uses a map anymore. And just it’s changed travel in business, I’d say dramatically, and made this type time of my career a lot easier.
Max Branstetter 31:42
I gotta poke a little fun at my dad, I joke that the last time I ever used a map was my dad drove me down for my internship in Dallas, after my junior year of college. And somewhere else we got into the Dallas area, we pulled over into like a Walmart parking lot. And he pulls out this like giant Atlas and like is poking through, like, oh, we gotta go here. We gotta go here. And I think since then, it’s been constantly Google Maps and Waze, for everybody. I think he was the last one to use a map. So
Gary Gottdiener 32:09
I mean, you had these triptychs. You know, it was on a spiral. And you’d flip over though, I made it to the next page, I made it to the next page, they were
Max Branstetter 32:20
perfect for that, like, pocket behind the seats, the driver’s seats in the passenger seats. And so on that note you I mean, I know you’ve traveled a ton outside of work as well. But for just your your work, quote, unquote, commute. You have to be one of the best people in the world to learn some travel tips from so what’s your ways to what’s your tips you have for traveling efficiently or comfortably just doing that often.
Gary Gottdiener 32:45
I mean, certainly right now to fly to Asheville, is pretty convenient, because whether I was in Newark, New Jersey, or down here, Asheville has its own airport. And since I have a condo in Asheville, I only go with a knapsack so there’s no there’s nothing that goes underneath. Tips these days, it’s it’s a horrible time to travel. In the old days, you get upgrades, they treated you like you know, a real person now, my lucky, you know, lucky is that I was able to get upgraded in my status for life. So as long as I fly united, I get lots of perks. Negative to that is you got another airline and you don’t really get much of anything. So my baggage is free. I got a good seat. And you know, so we try to fly united as much as we can.
Max Branstetter 33:40
Yeah, the prices of flights these days, I feel like we’re not far from like the first million dollar flight. Like, that’s what these prices seem like every time it’s good.
Gary Gottdiener 33:47
They’re, they’re up there for sure. And you get less for it these days.
Max Branstetter 33:52
You know, we’ll continue to travel a hobby as well. But I want to talk about some of your other hobbies and sports activities you do because you were an I’m not just hyping you up but you’re one of the most athletic people I’ve ever met who is really good at golf are really good at tennis. Pretty good at pickleball as well. And you know, maybe not as good as Dana but it’s a very you know, you have an incredible skiing family as well. And I know there’s more sports in there as well. So there’s a wide range of those but what is it you love so much about you know, getting out there hitting balls around and should probably wear that differently? Playing sports like that. What is what is it that kind of gets your juices well actually, let’s
Gary Gottdiener 34:33
well let’s start with that. Growing up, I was probably the worst worst athlete around I was the last to get picked and which got me to focus on at that time skiing and tennis. I would say that, you know, in my younger years, I was okay at those but I did focus on those. And as I got older I got better at them. When I did upgrade Graduating from college, everybody said that he should play golf because that’s more of a business, sport, and even the tennis and skiing for sure. So I basically dropped my tennis racquet which I had gotten pretty good at and picked up golf, and played a lot of golf over the years, and I’ve gotten better at that. When I came down to Florida, I picked up my tennis racquet again, and started playing that so between the golf and tennis, and if we could get a couple of trips out, you know, to go skiing, Dana’s grandfather and grandmother have lived in Vermont for quite a long time. So we’ve gone up there many times. The scheme was, I started when I was three. And you know, those are kind of the sports that I kind of hone in on. So down here, it’s it’s Jim, it’s golf, it’s tennis. And now pickleball
Max Branstetter 36:02
it’s an awesome combo.
Gary Gottdiener 36:03
Everybody’s got pickleball. Now,
Max Branstetter 36:05
yeah, well, that’s fun. There’s a reason there’s a reason why it’s exploded so much. But do you have any tips for somebody who wants to play like, I guess, diversified sports like that, like get get really good at multiple sports at once.
Gary Gottdiener 36:20
The tennis and pickleball kind of go hand in hand. I use literally my skill. Yeah, I use my skills for my tennis and my pickup ball. So they’re not that far apart. Golf golf is is a very tough sport. Lessons, a lot of lessons and a lot of practice. In down here. It’s great, because it’s a year round. So you get out whenever you can. And, you know, it’s a lot of practice, and a lot of fun. For sure.
Max Branstetter 36:51
And another thing that you have excelled at and has been a big part in recent years down here is that you’re a board member at Addison Reserve.
Gary Gottdiener 37:02
Oh, yeah, that’s that’s a ton of fun. No, but what depends on the day.
Max Branstetter 37:09
All right. But no, it’s obviously really cool that you can give back to community and be involved in kind of a more public role here. But what inspired you to get into that in the first place? And then what would you say your will keep it to your favorite part of doing that?
Gary Gottdiener 37:25
There’s certainly a love for Addison. But I would say that when we got down here, there were a lot of questions I was asking. And clearly, I was one of the newer members, younger than the group that had been here, or the people that have been here longer. And so that enough of my question said, Well, why don’t you come on the board. And as you know, before, you asked me to do this, I hate interviewing. Now you love Hey, we flipped. So it was kind of interesting. But I got on the board fairly easy that year, the year I got on the board. Literally three days later, we closed the entire club, because of COVID. My first year was really dealing with COVID protocols, rather than running the club as we normally would. And that was that was a rude awakening for everybody. Because in the early days of COVID, nobody knew what it was going to do the club, or you know, in general, and so we were making the stuff up as we went.
Max Branstetter 38:34
In theory, it makes your second term that much easier. Problem shall there’s no headaches.
Gary Gottdiener 38:40
Yeah, nice. You know, now we worry about the tuna fish. Things like that. No, actually the gym tuna. We are, as I tell everybody, when they asked me questions, the board of directors is strategic. We do not get into the day to day operations. But but it’s been a lot of fun. It’s great working with the staff and management and trying to make the club you know, a better place every day.
Max Branstetter 39:08
So I’m done with the questions that will make you bored, pun intended. But let’s let’s switch it up to some unusual questions. So pet peeves, quirks, weird talents, these are questions that really just about you and your personality. They don’t need to tie to your business at all. I totally just love learning like, you know, quirks fun stuff about people’s personalities. Some of these I may know some I may not know. So I’ll start with pet peeves. What’s something that grinds your gears? As Peter Griffin says, what’s something that just kind of ticks you off a little bit?
Gary Gottdiener 39:40
I hate when people speak over other people and give them the courtesy. Yeah, I have a little bit of OCD. I need to make sure that the handles of all my coffee cups or the face in the same way.
Max Branstetter 39:53
Unfortunately for Dana I didn’t know that. She grew up with somebody who likes things really organized in order like that too. And then she married me And it’s the same thing. So sorry, Dana. How about quarks? What’s something? A little cord? And really, we should ask Dan and Cheryl and Adam for this one. But what’s something a little quirky about your personality that maybe someone’s teased you about before, but it’s part of who you are? Sure,
Gary Gottdiener 40:14
I would say I don’t listen. Right oh, here, and only here when I want to hear. I
Max Branstetter 40:18
think I have that one as well. What weird talents are some say party tricks, something that I’m not going to let you use your sports skills for this. But what’s something that you just have a knack for? Like, you’re really good at it that has no impact on your business.
Gary Gottdiener 40:33
I love talking to people. I’m very social chair, I would say that I’m way too social. And I’ll never get to a table. Probably 10 minutes later as we go through the club. I always like to be around a lot of people Sheryl would sometimes like to say that we should be alone more. And she will also say when I’m traveling, you know I missed you. And then you know, 10 minutes later, just say when you go in on your next trip.
Max Branstetter 41:00
Turn into a roast Jarrell. It’s actually well, it’s a roasting. It’s a secondhand roasting of yourself. Yes, exactly. You don’t listen, you talk too much. You traveled too much. You don’t travel enough. So it was good. It’s a good list there. Now for the big hard hitting questions. We’re gonna wrap up with some rapid fire q&a, you’re ready for it? Sure. All right, let’s get wild. This first batch I call the Gary got dinner signature collection. And of course, I’m talking I’m talking about drinking. And there’s a few different categories here. I want to know, because you are a skilled drinker as well, I think we can say and that kind of seems to run my friends would say that, for sure seems to run in the family, my family as well for these few different categories. But I want you to think about what would be your one brand or one drink of each of these that if you could only drink one for the rest of your life. And it had to be that same one every time. What would it be? Price is not an issue for this. So you get it for free? How about scotch?
Gary Gottdiener 42:04
McKellen’s? Tequila 1942 would be my number one. Probably if you were if you were gonna furnish it for me, and I’d have to pay for it. Yeah, you can drink that for the rest of my life.
Max Branstetter 42:17
Well, let’s remind you that this is strictly hypothetical, but okay. But, but yeah, that would that would be that’s a really, really good one. Bourbon is there. Would you just would you say there’s a type of bourbon that you drink the most? Or maybe one that you just have sipped and thought, oh, wow, that’s that’s a really good one.
Gary Gottdiener 42:34
Woodford Reserve is is a good solid one that we make our smoked old fashions with? Yes. Which is also my right in my wheelhouse.
Max Branstetter 42:44
That’s the bartender, Gary classic. This
Gary Gottdiener 42:46
brings people over for my smoke bourbons, for sure.
Max Branstetter 42:50
Right off the flights. Whenever we come down here. That’s always my first request to drink. So appreciate you always doing that good stuff. On a different note, we mentioned how much you’ve traveled to Asheville and back. You have probably set a record for number of TV shows watched on a flight as well. Not a single flight. Well, maybe that too. But what is the TV show that you could watch over and over and over again on a flight and never get sick of it?
Gary Gottdiener 43:22
I’m a Star Trek fan. I can watch any of the Star Trek over and over again.
Max Branstetter 43:28
The original or the I know there’s so many different iterations, any
Gary Gottdiener 43:31
of them but yeah, the original I mean, you don’t see that on TV much anymore. But streaming wise it would be it would be any of the new series would be on my iPhone. Who was
Max Branstetter 43:43
a Star Trek character that you’d love to have a an unnamed bourbon with?
Gary Gottdiener 43:48
Oh, definitely. William Shatner. I mean, he’s the original Kirk king. The captain’s?
Max Branstetter 43:55
What golfer? Would you say you most professional golfer? You most closely resemble your game after?
Gary Gottdiener 44:01
Unfortunately, I don’t think my my game looks like anybody’s. You’re humble. You’re humble. Yeah, I mean, look, you know, I grew up with Tiger Woods. Well, yeah. We’re only for his golf. Golf. Right. Watching him continually change his swing. I’ve continually changed my swing and fine tuned it.
Max Branstetter 44:21
You know, when you say you grew up with Tiger Woods, some people might take that as you were like neighbors
Gary Gottdiener 44:25
now. No, no, no. Be on TV when he won his first masters. You know that stuff was cool.
Max Branstetter 44:31
Back to wedding shout outs. So it actually had one last night at the time of this recording but signature drinks at the wedding. So we all know Dana had her famous Dana’s Del Rey mule, the mule with blueberries, which was delicious. I had the Maxwell smoke which was a smoke tequila old fashion. If you could go back and have it maybe you did. I don’t know. But if you could have a signature drink at your wedding, what do you think it would be? And accounts
Gary Gottdiener 44:57
and you know it’d be tough on You don’t have to pay for all that. But yeah, that is that that’s probably my go to. And we could up the game. I could have said, you know, I drink a lot of MacAllan 12. But if it was a signature drink, I think we should go to 18 Perfect.
Max Branstetter 45:15
The last one you hinted at earlier. I know there’s so many amazing memories with the family up in Vermont, Stephen phalluses place and I just thought those are some of my favorite pictures of Dana and Adam and me and Jared his kids and skiing and it’s been cold and all that but just amazing house up there so many great memories. What would you say if you had to pick one? What was your favorite memory from those trips up to Vermont?
Gary Gottdiener 45:40
Oh, it’s always Christmas vacation holiday season. Chevy Chase. Back in the old days, there was more snow. But you know, the fireplace, the whole family being around, Scott’s family, our family. I could never call it one memory. But just every Christmas was always spectacular. It I have a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about even though I wasn’t there. But I also have a freezing cold feeling as well, because it gets way cold over there. But there’s nothing better than going out to dinner in the freezing cold and getting to the restaurant that has a really good fireplace going oh, yeah, that we’re coming back to the house. That’s
Max Branstetter 46:22
nice. And then that’s when Dean and me would do their musical performances, right?
Gary Gottdiener 46:28
We’re a lot of those for sure.
Max Branstetter 46:30
So at this point, I’d like to invite Dana to do a musical. No, I’m just kidding. But Gary, we’re not we’ve made it. So thank you so much for being open to do this. I know as you said that you’re not a big fan of interviewing. So this probably is a little bit out of your comfort zone. But this is awesome and really enjoyed learning more about your background. And I know you know fitters historically with people and their father in law, like you never know how that relationship is going to be. But to take a line from that you said at our wedding, my father in law has been a mensch from the very beginning. So thank you, thank you so much. If you want a shout out anything, where would be the place for people to learn more about your business or just if they want to connect with you on some sort of social media? Whatever you want there.
Gary Gottdiener 47:16
They can always reach me on my email, I guess. Which would be
Max Branstetter 47:29
Perfect. And then last thing, this is always the hardest question for everyone. Final thoughts. It could be a line words to live by whatever you want. Send us home here can be whatever you want.
Gary Gottdiener 47:41
If you have great loyalty to your family, friends, and customers, I think it comes right back at you.
Max Branstetter 47:52
Great loyalty and great wisdom from a great dude. Thank you so much, Gary, so grateful for you, for your family, for your daughter, and for coming on the podcast and being willing to to join the fantastic company of the Wild Business Growth Podcast alumni base. On a more serious note, I think it goes without saying that this episode is dedicated to Steve Gottdiener, Gary’s father, Dana’s grandpa, as well as Pat Manente, Gary’s longtime business partner, both of them while no longer with us, you can hear throughout this interview how big of a part they were in, in Gary’s life, in the Gottdieners’ lives, and so many people surrounding as well. So shoutout Steve and shoutout Pat! Thanks again, Gary for for being willing to do this. And thank you, Wild Listeners for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one and more Thanksgiving family specials, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app and tell a friend about the podcast. You can also find us on Goodpods, where there are good good podcasts and podcast recommendations. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That’s at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating and if not have a wonderful day, week, year, etc. And of course, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!
