Andy and Missy

Building Texas - Episode 40

Andy and Missy - Final Podcast

[00:00:00] Welcome to Building Texas with Justin McKenzie and Somer Baburek, sponsored by the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and Das Greenhaus. And now here's your host, Justin McKenzie.

Welcome to Building Texas, a show where we dive into what life is like in rural Texas and uncover the real story behind the business leaders who see the future in our region. I'm Justin McKenzie, and today we're talking. And visiting with an entrepreneurial couple, Andy and Missy Ivankovich. We were just talking about Ivankovich, Ivankovich.

We hear the name all over town. So lots of people have different ways to say it. Andy will correct us here in a minute. It means Johnson. Is that what it is? Son of John. Ivan. That's incredible. You know them today as the owners of Singing Water Vineyards, but in this discussion, I'm certain you'll hear the ups and downs of building your own company, life, everything that [00:01:00] y'all have built together, and I've enjoyed hearing the story, so I look forward to sharing that with everyone else.

But Andy and Missy, welcome to the show. Hello. Thank you. Let's start. You were not from Texas originally. How did you end up in San Antonio, Texas? I guess I can go first if you want, honey. Yeah. So I grew up in the sticks of Florida, not the pretty beaches or Disney world or anything like that. I grew up in central small town called Mulberry, Florida.

Maybe, I don't know. 2000 people in a traffic light and maybe that's it. It's in between Tampa and Orlando and rural kind of country. As you say that that's my upbringing and I didn't really have any options graduating high school. You know, my father had passed away when I was 10 years old and so our economic means were just not there.

Two pennies rubbed together and my mother. The only real option was joining the military. My brother had done it a couple of years [00:02:00] before in the Navy. He called me up and said, whatever you do, join the air force. And so, uh, it was my first entrance. And so I, I joined up when I was 18, became a C 130 crew chief, went through Texas, both Lackland and Shepard, which is up north, ended up getting stationed.

In Alaska. And what was funny about that is that we always used to joke that, you know, And, uh, you know, Randolph air force base for air force guys that know it, it does all the personnel assignments. And some guy was probably having fun with the idea of sending a kid from Florida to Alaska. A lot of people fall in love with that Alaska assignment though.

I've known some people that that was really what introduced them to everything and anything that Alaska is. Yeah. I think that for Alaska it's, if you like the outdoors, you're going to love it. If you don't like the outdoors, you're going to hate it. So if you've got that kind of bug, which I had, you end up loving it.

And I think Missy and I, we've been up there multiple times. We took our kids up. We go up hiking with friends and try to make it back as much as we can. Cause there's [00:03:00] just nothing to compare, but love that journey. And then obviously coming out, I have the GI Bill behind me and trying to figure out what to do.

My father was. In business. And so my brothers were in quote unquote business. And so I thought that, gosh, you know, I'd love to go to a major city. Always fell in love with Boston, love the Red Sox and ended up going there to go to school, a small school called Eastern Nazarene where I met Missy and. Yep.

I'm from that area. My dad was a professor at the college and so I grew up there just South of Boston, six miles South of Boston. So Eastern Nazarene College was a great experience for us. We met there, we got married there and we stayed in the Boston area. Andy took a position in financial services and I was fulfilling my dream of being an elementary school teacher.

So I was a fifth grade teacher for three years there, but Andy was not so happy with the weather situation in Boston. I can relate to that. I would actually [00:04:00] tell you that Boston is colder than Alaska, or at least it feels colder than Alaska. Yeah. So I was going back and forth. I worked for a great company out of college.

Actually, while I was in college too, it was a British owned company called Aviva life insurance, and it was right during the. com bust. And so all these companies were trying to figure out how to make this digital divide or gap. And it's one of these things one day that you. And you're saying, how'd I end up in financial services?

It's not normally what you grow up as a kid working for a life insurance company. That's what I'm going to do. But, uh, I had been in the military and I had told Missy, we're having a conversation one day. And I said, gosh, if I'm in financial services. Why not go ahead and be with the, the best of the best.

And that happens to be in Texas at USAA. And I was sitting there, maybe I'll apply. Maybe we'll, we'll see what happens. And I did. I think you [00:05:00] applied for every position at USAA throughout the course of several months. Well, I get a phone call, so I ended up flying down and I still remember that day calling Missy.

San Ham and San Antonio. This place is beautiful. And she was wondering if there's tumbleweeds going through. That was my sticking point. If I saw one tumbleweed, we were out. Yeah. I think just getting used to the dryness and that the vegetation is smaller and Browner than I was used to. But overall, it did not take us long to realize that this was home and that this is where we wanted to be and needed to be.

We got engaged in church and we got engaged with our neighborhood and the people that are attracted to this area. We just found we're very like minded with us, you know, on all points. Now, Missy was an elementary school teacher. So coming out of the Boston environment, I think was [00:06:00] a, Big deal. And then coming in and, uh, teaching at any ISD, which is on the north side, obviously of San Antonio.

But I think the first thing we fell in love with was housing, at least back then compared to what we were paying in Boston. And then, uh, the size of the house, we, we hadn't had kids yet at that point. I think that put her over the top too. That is true. That is true. So all four of our kids were born at Methodist Hospital here in San Antonio.

So it was a little interesting to give birth to Texans and they've lived up to it. Texans and proud ROTC, Air Force ROTC students. I know that's something that you support and do you look forward to your kids pursuing an Air Force career? Absolutely. I think that, you know, number one service right to our country.

I think you can put that as top of the list for anybody out there. And yeah, two of our children. Definitely are bent that way and pursuing some options through college. And we're excited about that. So, well, as an entrepreneurial story, yours is [00:07:00] very relatable. Many entrepreneurs, particularly in this region of the country, have come out of the military with that background and with the tools that they're afforded, they have a lot more independence and a lot more direction to say, now I know what I want to do in life.

That's right. And here are my other options. It's not just this. Yep. So I applaud what you're doing there and how you lean into the ROTC in general, uh, giving lots of kids that direction. Yeah. So after your Air Force career, you came back to San Antonio through USAA and then launched into your banking career.

Island X, where does that come from? How did we get to what that became? Yeah. And where is it today? Well, kind of started back if I would take people back before iPhones and all the other fun stuff. USAA, which had a credit card bank, decided in those early 2000s to move. Fully into banking and it was probably [00:08:00] more set up for it because it was remote, had one branch, did not have branches throughout the United States, but had a pretty good call center process, be able to sign up for people and then transact banking through mail.

You know, we were accepting checks and deposits back then through the mail. Um, And so being a digital bank was, I think, in the ethos of USA to begin, I was part of that first technology group that started to develop capabilities. And the reality is, is that a lot of the banks like Chase and others, they didn't quite need it because they had such a large footprint for retail banking.

A lot of them were slow to adopt. As I left USAA in 2010, The demand for doing digital banking reached an all time high because everybody wanted to jump into it. I mean, the iPhone had been out, I think three years at that point, this idea of doing experiences and banking was kind of my forte from developing out the lending capabilities.

[00:09:00] And so it was just a natural launch to say, Hey, I want to start a company. But I started a company because both Missy and I, we were both We wanted to stay in San Antonio area. And unfortunately, if you're not with USAA or Frost, uh, your options to being in technology and banking are quite limited by virtue of starting a business.

We got to stay here with our kiddos. We were able to start a FinTech before they were calling it FinTech. Back in, uh, that 2010, 2011 timeframe. I appreciate the reminder that that is why you started the company. When you look around, it's why we do the work that we do at Doss Greenhouse and the Boerne Kendall County Angel Network is to really try and create those opportunities for people to stay in the Hill country or live and work in the Hill country.

I met you both when Ford motor company came to town and launched the F 150 lightning at your vineyard. How did we end up there? I don't know. You kind of have certain things [00:10:00] obviously missing our faith base. And so a lot of that we can explain easily, but probably to listeners, it's, it's more around the process of good things happen sometimes to, to people.

And that was probably one that just happened. By circumstance of folks looking at billboards and looking at places to host a national launch, they came across our vineyard and property, which is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places on the planet in the hill country here, it's singing water vineyard.

You know, we have a mile stretch of a beautiful property along with a Creek that runs through it called Bruins Creek and hills that top off at 13, 1400 So when you're Ford motor, that backdrop of. You know, Texas is a huge market for them and to be able to be in the true Texas Hill Country. I think, uh, we had a lot going for us at that time.

You were able to exit your company, your software startup and afforded you the opportunity, I believe, to really go out and acquire Singing Water. And I [00:11:00] think what you and Missy have done in the team, you took a gem and continued to polish it until now it is so much bigger. And then the media attention that you got from Ford and other events that you do out there.

Just continue to shine a bright light on comfort. Yeah, no, we've definitely been enjoying the journey. I think for us, Missy and I both, when you kind of look at the pathway of running companies and being entrepreneurs for better part of 10, 12 years, it's easy to kind of look back for some to say, Hey, you did started a company, exited, and then you buy this.

Winery and vineyard, right? The reality is the road of starting a company is very difficult. It's very long, very challenging. You give up a lot during those years, especially if you have peers that are being promoted left and right. You're sitting there trying to figure out how to make payroll and also a company that may have promised a check in the mail.

You never got the check for a couple of weeks. And when you kind of look at that, [00:12:00] I think for Missy and I, I had spent, you know, majority of my time on the road and we had four little kiddos, I thought that, gosh, when we exit, it would be nice to get something that we as the family could do together. And I grew up, like I mentioned before in the sticks and I've always loved land property, love Texas.

And so the idea of getting essentially a farm or a ranch. It was really a unique way to get back to bonding, get back to something tangible. You know, we deal with software and that was my background and everything's in ones and zeros. As my mom used to say, uh, you talk into a box, a laptop, most of your life.

And this was getting out and getting in into the wild and doing something fun. I appreciate a lot of people that. don't know your journey to Singing Water know you at Singing Water. And quite often they know you as just running around, working, you've got your hat on, you've you've got your shirt sleeves rolled up and you're [00:13:00] moving dirt somewhere more often than not.

So it's a testament to your doing what you love to do. And it's a full contact sport. Yeah, I know we enjoy it. I think one of the big things, Well, number one, farmers in Texas are entrepreneurs by nature. Bread and Bourne. And we do joke that there's more work to be done on the farm and there's always going to be more work to be done on the farm.

And so I've been able to enjoy this time period where, you know, it used to be behind a desk or in a boardroom with a bank. And this is kind of neat to be able to kind of roll up your sleeves and get rained on, get dusted on, get snowed on. All the things that you can imagine can happen out in a, on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

As we lead into the break, I appreciate the reference of a farm because it is an agricultural business that you're running today. 100%. And in the few years that we've worked together, I've seen the language shift and people are starting to say, well, what is this business? How does this [00:14:00] work? And you're having to educate our leaders around what is an ag business and what is a farm today.

So when we come back, we're going to talk more about your local engagement and ways that we can continue to drive that conversation forward. This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Dusk Greenhouse is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business. expand a business or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhouse. org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas.

Das Greenhouse. So Andy[00:15:00]

and Missy, we've talked a lot about the veteran side and, and I want to close that story loop around your freedom line at Singing Water. I mean, I've enjoyed learning the history of Comfort, Texas through Singing Water's lens. Because you attract so many people in and you hear those stories of who is it that's out here.

I mean, we know some Air Force folks that have done tremendous things in their career. And they're leaders in this small, it's not even a town, of Comfort, Texas. But who have you found in your community around you through Singing Water? And how does that tie into the Air Force connection? Yeah, well, I think first is just to give a highlight of the vineyard, you know, started before us.

We acquired Singing Water in 2019, but it was there since 1997. What's kind of fascinating, Justin, is a lot of people that I know will be shocked that there's vineyards and wineries in Texas. And the reality is, is that we're number three. Number four, we trade places with Washington [00:16:00] every once in a while on grape production in the United States.

And that kind of really started back in those, uh, I'd say Texas wine got to start about nineties, mid nineties. It's been around forever. I mean, there's wineries that date back a hundred years. The particular is that grapes grow well and pretty much every climate. And here in San Antonio and the Hill country, we have bleachy limestone rock.

As we kind of look at that, it. You know, the grape doesn't like sitting in water, the rootstock doesn't. And so if you've got a good filtering process, they're going to do well. So it was discovered, now there's hundreds upon hundreds of wineries. You look at 290 in between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, that's where the big hubbub is.

But for us, we're a real Hill country destination because we're in the middle of the Hill Valley. And what's unique about that is that we're in direct proximity to San Antonio, Boerne, Kerrville, and this surrounding area that has a massive population of veterans who end [00:17:00] up retiring here. And what's fascinating about it is that we attract a lot.

And I think back in. 14 years ago, the original owners called the Holmbergs, Dick and Julie, they were sitting around with some good friends, including Dick Cole, who was co pilot Jimmy Doolittle on the Doolittle raids. We bombed Tokyo and still alive, hanging out in that area. They said, Hey, let's take a wine.

Let's go ahead and create a label for it called freedom. And let's give 10 percent back to veteran causes causes like the USO or the Fisher house, which is essentially the Ronald McDonald house for veterans that are injured and their family get to stay at a place. And so they've did all these celebrations, started attracting a lot of veterans, especially those that like wine and built a following.

So when we come up to it, 2019. You immediately fall in love with something like that. A cause we're service minded and a veteran myself. And so it was just naturally, we fell into it and kept going with it pretty significantly. But when you kind of look at our winery, [00:18:00] we were blessed to have some really good folks all the way from.

Senior officers in the military down to guys are just turning wrenches like me. We recently got to know a four star general of the air force that retired in the area. And he was the last chief of staff, a couple staffs back. And it's been kind of fun to get to know some of these folks. That really is the beauty of what you've curated there because it is a meeting place.

You don't go to singing water for a. 20 minute tasting and go. You're there to visit with your friends, to visit with the community that's come in to hang out for the Saturday afternoon and enjoy some great food, live music. I'm excited about your cover bands coming out and the music that we're going to start hearing.

So it's created a fun spot, but it's also generated a business conversation around that part of our county. It's very different, Kendall County, for those that aren't from the area. There's a highly dense southern half of the county, and then as you go north to Comfort, and where we're talking about today, it's still very [00:19:00] rural.

It's farmland, and that's an adjustment for our leadership to think about how do we balance the needs of singing water while also balancing this urban side of Burnie today. You've been a big voice in that because you've had to help them understand kind of the business problem that it's presenting for you.

And then how they could really make it a positive for the area, attract more or create more energy and activity around it. Where does that sit with you today? How do you have that conversation? Well, I think first off, you know, we live in and reason called Kendall County, right? And we border, Curville or Kerr County, and then we've got Gillespie, Fredericksburg.

And by far, we were an ag community first, all the way back to the 1800s. When we kind of look at the availability of land and also water use, water rights, I think there's been a lot of challenges that side, especially more recent. And you're getting into more and more areas now where. We'll say that you have a hundred acres and the [00:20:00] ability to run cattle, the thought that, Hey, I can run 10, 20, 30 heads takes a lot to maintain them.

It takes a lot to feed them. It takes a lot to water them. And I believe today we're running into a lot of issues where generational families have been on the. Properties for say three or four generations back are struggling with trying to make their property still be able to produce Something off the property so that leads them to evaluate other options It's one thing if they're working in san antonio at a company and they're doing Farming and ranching on the side.

'cause it can offset some of those expenses with some income. But the reality is most of these folks begin to look at other places to possibly sell their property to developers, which is a huge issue within this region. They're exercising their right, which we totally support, but then there's the flip side of it is we're losing these ranches and farms, especially in these areas here, and that really is because they can't cashflow the property.

That's right. They can't find a way [00:21:00] that fits their lifestyle and what they want to do that's going to cover their tax bill, their property tax bill, and then just the cost of doing business. That's right. Which, in a lot of ways, our tax is set up so that you can offset the cost of doing business. That's right.

But you have to have a balanced conversation. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that when you kind of look at different things, when it comes to farming, especially in our area, There's not very many options that farmers have, right? If you're doing hay, right, that's one option, but land in this particular area, let's just say you don't have water running on it.

It's per acre spot, 14, 000 to 17, 000 an acre is typical what it's going for. Right? So if you're a family who literally is making 30, 000 to 100, 000 a year, Selling crops, beef, cattle, whatever. And you have to take a step back when someone comes in and offers you 5 million for your track of land. That's generational change for them, even if they farm for the next five, [00:22:00] 10, 20 years or two generations down, someone has to look at that, right?

And we actually, in many cases, when we kind of look at our County, we're growing like, like a weed, right. And at the end of the day, and so when you kind of take a look back at what is happening in farming in Kendall County, you've got what we call cash crops, right? The reality is when you look at wine and vines, hill country vines produce.

Do some significant fruit juice that tastes pretty good in a bottle. And those are varietals like Tempranillo, which is very close to a cab. It's a Spanish grape. You have others like sweet wines, you know, Muscat is a white grape. In particular, you can sell a ton of grapes for 5, 000. And so when you're looking at acreages of vineyards, which still a lot to produce, it becomes something that can actually now present.

Some type of cashflow for a family versus selling a head of cattle for a few hundred bucks margin. You've both always been very supportive of the journey here with dusk [00:23:00] greenhouse and building the entrepreneurial culture around Kendall County. And I think for the reasons that you've just outlined, we want to create a place where somebody coming out of comfort ISD that has a hundred acres of farmland can say, I can grow enough grapes to make a living, or I've got a technology idea that I can go and do it.

I can cash flow my property that way. I'm very optimistic that ag tech is going to be an impactful industry here in Kendall County. Gillespie as well. I mean, we look at Renew Robotics. We look at a number of companies that are very innovative around servicing ag and farm. And I enjoy that you get to be very visible in that because of the success of Singing Water.

And hopefully motivating, encouraging other families to say, here's what we can do. Absolutely. I think in particular for us, right, I think that we owe it to our friends and neighbors. We share what one of the beautiful things about the wine industry is that We don't view ourselves as competitors. We have a winery right around the corner from us.

We're sharing [00:24:00] ideas, concepts. Bending Branch is gosh, probably five minutes away, Missy, right? And when you kind of look at them, they're a much bigger operation than we are. But we'll get our glass bottles because they're bringing in a large truck. And we're able to just get a pallet here, pallet there at some pretty good rates.

And so it's kind of like helping out each other, right? So I think that ultimately that's how we'll succeed in places like Kendall County. Let me just add to that too, because owning the vineyard has changed who we are and how we operate as a family. So we have four children. Three of them are currently in high school, an 18 year old and twin boys that are 17.

And we've spent a lot more time because of the vineyard Talking to them about the things that you're talking about, ag tech as a potential career field, going into agribusiness and why that's so important. And it's a vital thing that we as a society have to embrace. Where does our food come from? Where does it come from [00:25:00] today?

How are we gonna get it tomorrow? And what is the impact of the environmental changes that we're seeing? And how can we better utilize water? If you go out to our property, you'll see that we have huge tanks. We are renewing and reusable energy sources wherever possible because number one, we want to leave this place to the next generation.

In a way that they can work with it and utilize all those things, but also that our kids would think, hopefully, entrepreneurially about the new world that we're handing to them and that they have to now lead and grow and figure out. And they're smart kids. They're all smart kids and they will figure it out.

But these are the tools that we can provide to them, you know, to give them success in the future. Our greatest export today in Kendall County is our talent, our kids and workforce that leave and don't see a pathway back. So I appreciate what you, Andy and Missy, are both doing [00:26:00] with Singing Water and with your work around Singing Water to really promote this idea of building your own, the idea that you can roll up your sleeves.

and make an impact. So, thank you both for being here today and thank you for the way you're building Texas. This is Justin McKenzie from Building Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Dusk Greenhouse. Dusk Greenhouse is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Dusk Greenhouse is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business, and make a difference. or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhouse. org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Birney, Texas.

Das Greenhouse.

Representative Jon Rosenthal: Texas State Representative District 135

Building Texas - Jon Rosenthal - Episode 34

Welcome to Building Texas with Justin McKenzie and Somer Baburek, sponsored by the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and Das Greenhaus. And now here's your host, Justin McKenzie.

Justin McKenzie: Welcome to Building Texas. My name's Justin McKenzie. You're listening to Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM. Today, I'm thrilled to have a guest here with us that wasn't expected.

This was the benefit of what we do at Das Greenhaus and how we bring people together. So I'm here with State Representative Jon Rosenthal. He's been a state representative for a while now, three races.

Jon Rosenthal: that's right. I'm in the middle of my third term, so about five years.

Justin McKenzie: Two practicing engineers in the House of Representatives, and the only mechanical engineer.

Jon Rosenthal: And the only oil and gas technical professional.

Justin McKenzie: Which is really surprising in the state of Texas. With as much as oil and gas does [00:01:00] around energy, we need that expertise in policy and lobbying. So I

Jon Rosenthal: actually, on one hand, I understand. I can now understand better why engineers and people that you think of as being thoughtful and thinking things through don't want to work in a political environment.

But on the other hand of that. Energy is such a large part of our, not just our economy, but our culture in Texas, that I'm surprised we don't have more energy professionals.

Justin McKenzie: Well, we're coming together today on an energy purpose. You're here at Das Greenhaus. Working with the wind chaser team on our vertical windmill project that's going through the Das Greenhaus program.

Jon Rosenthal: That's right. I'm actually very excited about, about the windchaser project.

Justin McKenzie: We talked earlier and you have a background and you were in the House of Representatives during winter storm Uri, which Texas will remember is 2021 winter event. And we're very dependent on oil and gas today. We're really looking for alternative energy in [00:02:00] so many ways at an industry level, but at a state policy level, are we thinking about wind energy, solar energy as real sustainable solutions?

Jon Rosenthal: You know, it's a really good question and I definitely appreciate you asking it in that way because of the way that we have these conversations.

Folks will assume either we want to have oil and gas, some people want it, and some people don't. And while that may be so on the fringes, I think the answers that we're looking at moving forward are, need to be an all of the above approach. For anybody listening out there who's lived in Texas for a while, especially after the winter storm Uri event, Where a large part of the state just went dark, including my house.

Like we lost power for, for almost a full week. We know now what ERCOT means, the Electric Reliability Corporation of Texas. We now know that we have an electrical grid and power generation and distribution infrastructure that is at risk in [00:03:00] the state. All the time. So whenever demand starts peaking, like, especially when it gets very, very cold and we're all running our heat and all that kind of stuff, or if it gets very, very hot, we're all running our air conditioners.

The state has a remarkably fragile electrical infrastructure. And so anything that we can do to shore that up, I believe we should be enacting policy that promotes. A stronger grid also addressing on the demand side, like efficiency, or if you can have these mobile wind generators in neighborhoods, it lowers the stress on the system.

So it makes more energy available at lower cost for all of us. And so I feel like without discouraging anybody, we should be promoting an all of the above approach.

Justin McKenzie: And that's the way the wind chaser team's looking at it as well. As this is not a end all be all, but it's an addition to other options that are out there.

And it just gets us thinking about it because it is a fragile grid in Texas. ERCOT, I think everybody [00:04:00] now knows what ERCOT is. If you don't have the ERCOT app, I would tell you to go download the ERCOT app. It's really interesting and fun to watch. But innovation is where I think I want to go in the conversation around who's solving that problem?

Who's really investing in the future of oil and gas? The future of power? In the state of Texas today, you know,

Jon Rosenthal: that's really a good question. So obviously we have large scale investors in a number of areas in our state. I think people would largely be surprised to know that some of the largest oil and gas operators like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips are all making monstrous investments in renewables and green energy because we've got a shifting landscape with regards to how we produce and consume energy on this planet. And once again, if we want to stay relevant, if we want to stay ahead of the curve, if we want to be an energy capital and energy resource, and especially for me from Houston, [00:05:00] I think we're the energy capital of the whole world of Houston, Texas.

In order to maintain our relevance and our profitability and our ability to keep people employed and contribute to the larger picture, we're going to have to shift along with the rest of the planet.

Justin McKenzie: And what does that look like? Because Houston, in my mind, is the capital of energy in the world. Always has been from the early days of the oil and gas industry to today.

But who's coming in and shifting that outside of Houston? Where is the world going from a sustainability standpoint? Is London coming in and making different investments? Is it the Middle East, or is it still Texas just looking

Jon Rosenthal: differently? So, for my position, I want to promote Texas maintaining that role and doing the things that we should be doing, both in industry, business, and legislatively to promote those things.

Right now You know, you always have the producers from other parts of the world, Russia, the Middle East, [00:06:00] even Mexico, but really some of our neighbors are starting to jump on and get with this. So like Oklahoma, Louisiana have some large resources that they're developing. And even as you get towards New Mexico, that same underground formations that feed into the Permian Basin.

That's our area in West Texas that produces tons of oil and gas that extends farther beyond the Texas border because geographic formations don't care about political boundaries. But really for us, the staying relevant is going to take a very intentional effort for all of us, whether we're in industry or not.

Justin McKenzie: Well, you're listening to Justin McKenzie on Building Texas, and I'm here with state representative Jon Rosenthal, you're in Boerne working with an entrepreneurial group and wearing your engineering hat. As a mechanical engineer, help me understand what are the projects that you're looking at and how [00:07:00] does that help you in your world today as a legislator?

Jon Rosenthal: It's nice to be seen as a voice of reason inside of the legislature. So no matter what your partisan bent is, when me and my colleagues in the Texas House are working through problems, Most of the stuff that we talk about are not partisan issues. So like energy production is not a partisan issue in Texas.

That being as it is, there are opportunities for us to learn from each other. For me in particular, I have really been leaning into a role as a leader on As far as being a credible source of information for my colleagues and in the crafting of policy in general. Now, I would like to see us taking more of an all of the above approach.

Much more than a sane voice, if you could call it that, much more than a lone, sane voice in your state legislature. There are big money interests who lobby your government in order to push policy and directions that are profitable [00:08:00] for them. I don't think it would surprise anybody to learn that oil and gas interests are one of the largest lobbying firms, one of the largest lobbying influences in your state capital, along with some others.

I mean, insurance, doctors. The large constructors, you can think of big money stuff. I think it's important, even for their benefit, for all of our benefit, that we balance the way the policy approaches this.

Justin McKenzie: As you think about the future of work, not just in energy, but the future of work in Texas, what is your district looking for?

Where are you investing in the kids that are being raised in your school districts from a statewide representative level? Wow,

Jon Rosenthal: what a question. So my area of Northwest Harris County, so I'm outside of the Houston corporate limit, although my address says Houston, Texas. What we have out there are a lot of folks like me.

We've got a lot of oil and gas workers at different levels of industry and in administration and we've got welders and chop [00:09:00] hands and even CEOs and planners, schedulers, all kinds of professionals out there. But the leading employer in my area are the schools. I'm in the heart of the Houston Independent School District, which is the third largest school district in the state, and the largest A rated school district in the state.

So we start talking about education, education opportunities for our kids. I think while a lot of people have a lot of emotional attachment to what we're teaching in schools, I would like to see us strengthen our STEM programs, the science, technology, engineering, math, and actually STEAM if you incorporate arts into that also, but to have people who are well informed, creative thinkers who can process information towards being productive in society, and I think by improving our public schools and working with our, our kids, especially to bring them up in an environment where they're innovators, where they have an ability to understand and process what's going on around them.

And I know that we [00:10:00] want to lead this conversation into entrepreneurship, and I think the ingenuity backed by some technical know how can really go a long way. So, like, on this project I've come out here to work on. This week where we've got a vertical windmill that can be transported and power up, let's say a neighborhood or a business or something, you know, driving in there on an 18 wheeler, set it up and get it spinning and, and, uh, shore up our grid in places where it may have failed.

These folks are innovative and contributing to the strength of our energy infrastructure. Like that's the goal here. So, bringing up kids with a solid background, hugely important. One of my big pushes in the legislature, of course, is for public education. I have more education workers in my district than anything else.

Then everything else combined, actually.

Justin McKenzie: Well, you're listening to Building Texas on Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM. We're visiting with Texas State Representative Jon Rosenthal [00:11:00] from District 135. After the break, we're going to come back and dive deeper into education, entrepreneurship and the future of work.

This is Justin McKenzie from Building Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community. Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business.

or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus. org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas. Das Greenhaus.

Welcome back to Boerne Radio. This is Justin McKenzie with Building Texas and today we're having an interesting conversation with Texas State [00:12:00] Rep. Jon Rosenthal from District 135 in northern Northwest Harris County, and we're talking about energy, energy policy in Texas, and then moving into education because you have the third largest district in Texas.

That's right. We do a lot here at Das Greenhaus with our local school districts because we value the entrepreneurial mindset and the vision of kids can really do anything. It's not what their parents have done. It's not just what they've seen their family doing. The world is big and new and they can go do things that.

Jobs that don't exist today are what they're going to be working on in the future. That's right. So our, our big mission is to help educate and show people those opportunities through mentorship and entrepreneurship. How do you see economic development in your district working with the school to prepare the workforce that you're going to need?

You were talking about oil and gas heavy, but there's the trades, there's school professionals, there's all kinds of things that we need in every county. So

Jon Rosenthal: it's a, it's a great question. And [00:13:00] I'm, as the son of a academician, my father was a university professor and actually both of his parents were like small town teachers in a very rural, remote part of North Dakota is where my dad's family came from.

But when we look at modern schooling and modern education paths, I think we have to recognize that it's pretty much equally important that children be able to follow their inspiration, whether it leads to pursuing higher education, college degrees, or even advanced degrees, or whether it leads them into professional trades.

I don't need a PhD coming to my house when my pipes are frozen during URI. I want a qualified plumber to come out. And I don't want someone who pretends at that. I want someone who's a professional. And that's just one example. We can set paths up in our schools so that children have the ability to pursue their goals, pursue their inspiration, no matter which direction it takes them.

Business and Industry partnering with our school [00:14:00] districts has been a great model all across the state. In our area, we do it. We have work study programs for these kids. We have college readiness courses, you know, so the ones that are advancing faster can move towards more advanced work while they're still in high school.

We have internships and programs for these kids where they can interact with business, with industry, with projects. We have A number of companies right around me sponsoring like robotics programs and robotics competitions at these schools, which is super cool. And I actually visited a school just a couple of weeks ago and they were engaged in a drone competition, you know, super cool stuff, but the kids get inspired when they can put hands on when they can start learning about how to program flight for a drone or build a better robot that does this or that the hands on exposure for them as invaluable.

Justin McKenzie: I want to take the moment to just say if you're a business owner in any community, your [00:15:00] school wants you involved. They all have their career and technology education program, CTE, and they're needing corporate sponsors and volunteers to come in and participate and show the kids those opportunities. So, I appreciate that at your level, you're thinking about that, and you're seeing it, you're involved in it, and engaged with it.

As we look at programs and entrepreneurs around the world, where did you find your entrepreneurship spirit? Because deciding to move from a professional engineering role to state legislator, I mean, I imagine that's a decision you had to work through.

Jon Rosenthal: It, it is, you know, for those that don't know, there's a, uh, monstrous income difference between a senior 30 year offshore subsea engineer and a state legislator.

Just trying to figure out how I was going to pay the bills if I take on this new role and pretty much recognizing I wasn't going to be able to keep steady work in the industry while I was doing it, so. To me, it was [00:16:00] just taking a break. When you ask about the entrepreneurial spirit, you know, and you're asking a design engineer that, you know, I was always a tinkerer as a kid growing up, and I still do, like my personal hobbies, I build stuff and tweak on equipment around the house, it stresses my wife out no end, but she has learned that most of the time I can keep stuff working.

Justin McKenzie: Every now and then it's a surprise.

Jon Rosenthal: Every now and then I have to hire a professional but usually not because I mess something up but because I want to be cautious around working on electrical wiring or plumbing that sort of thing I understand in theory but again I want to qualify professional when it comes to working on dangerous stuff around my house.

Justin McKenzie: With a background in power the scariest thing to me was an electrical engineer with a screwdriver in his hand. We also talk about the, the, the political sways, the election cycles that swing school boards. They swing local city councils, commissioner’s court, and those play a key role in investment [00:17:00] in the future.

Whether that's economic development investment, school district investment, policy programming, everything. We're in a world where a lot of what we see politically is fear. We, on this show, we like to talk about curiosity and getting people involved and getting people engaged in the process locally, where you can really understand how it works.

And that it's not just the sausage at the end of the day, it's, it's everything that goes into it that makes it a special city, district, whatever it might be. Where did you step into the politics? What role did you first run for elected

Jon Rosenthal: office on? What an interesting question and an interesting way to lead into it, because one of my favorite quotes about fear is ignorance and fear and hate walk hand in hand.

So if you want to dispel these things, the first place to dispel fear and hate is by addressing the ignorance, because ignorance provides the space where people can learn to hate each other without even knowing [00:18:00] them. In a political space, we see that all the time. No matter what side of the aisle you may be on, you will see conversations online or maybe amongst your friends in the office vilifying the other side, whatever side that happens to be.

And you come to a point where you believe folks that subscribe to A side or B side to be evil. Or true and pure, you know, just depending on what their politics are. It's super important, inherently important to understand each individual person. So I work in an environment that obviously is politically charged at times.

But we don't, most of us don't force our relationships to align with political boundaries. So it's important to engage in conversations, especially reasonable conversations with folks you may not agree with. If you want to ask me how I came to run for political office, people ask me that all the time.

Have you run for stuff before? And the truth is, last time I won an election before 2018 was, was [00:19:00] 1980. I was elected as the president of my high school science club. So I never ran for office before that. I was so happy with my little life as an offshore engineer. I mean, fascinating work, good pay. Right people that I worked with all over the planet.

It was the rise in ignorance and hate That was one of my main motivating factors. And the other part of that was during 2018 we saw rising concern about public education Teachers across the nation were striking for better pay The teachers in Texas don't have the ability to do that because the state will revoke their teaching credential But really, being a product of an education household and an education family, I thought public education being very important to me and really under distress in this state.

That was the majority, really the fundamental part of my platform was opposing discrimination and bigotry in any of its forms. [00:20:00] Promoting public education in Texas and then the regular kitchen table issues about economic development, access to health care. I don't know who's listening, but if you are happy with the way that insurance and health care works in this state, maybe it's just because you've never had to go to a hospital or see a doctor.

But we have a lot of work to do to make all those things better for our constituents. And so in 2018, I just came to a point where I felt like I need to stop just complaining about stuff to my friends. And because I have the motivation and the means that I was going to try to do something about it. And so here I am.

Justin McKenzie: I'm sure glad you're in office because I do value a professional engineer. Being at the table when we're determining technical policy, it doesn't surprise me at this point, but I think it should surprise everybody that those experts and resources aren't always in the room to help fight the ignorance, right?

We might be talking about how stuff comes out of the earth. [00:21:00] You've got to understand a lot of mathematics and science to say this is what our real problem is that we're trying to control and manage versus. Oh no, all this hot stuff's coming out of the earth and what are we going to do with it? I, I just think there's a bigger gap than people realize around how policy's written and implemented in the state, even at the local levels, and what that means to their day to day life.

It's a trickle, because we'll see decisions made in one session have a big impact five years from now. Because they're now implemented. And the group think is, well, the person today implemented this change, implemented this policy. No, it really happened five years ago, and you're just seeing the result of it.

And that's confusing to the masses too. How do I get involved? How would I have prevented it? How would I have had a voice in that

Jon Rosenthal: decision? Yeah, and a lot of this policy work gets done kind of in a vacuum, so people don't Often people don't pay [00:22:00] attention to what kind of policy is being enacted by your state legislature.

So even though it may have a direct impact on your life, or your business, or your business, people don't know who their legislators are or what we're working on. So I definitely encourage folks to, in Texas, you can Google who represents me, put in your address in the quick form. And know who all your representatives and like from United States Senate, congressional rep, your Texas House representative and your Texas state senator and go maybe look at at who those folks are and what they're doing and let them know if you agree with them or disagree with them, give some feedback to our offices.

I know I value that the whole notion of having state and county and city governments is to bring the policymakers closer to the people. And so we should always be listening to our constituents as far as informing our views on what, how to enact policy or what we should fight for or fight against. So in the energy picture here, and I keep [00:23:00] talking about all above approach.

I want to incentivize all the development in Texas, not just some slice of it. So, when you have powerful lobbying interests in the Capitol building, directing how policy works, and then we have a multibillion-dollar investment trying to bring industry into Texas. But it's only going to work if you're doing oil and gas work then all the other stuff that I would hope to incentivize is kind of left out of that and it's because of these lobbying interests and the best way to counter that is to talk to your state representatives and your city council people and your county commissioners are the ones who have this policy in their hands and they should listen to you before enacting it

Justin McKenzie: as we wrap up today's conversation, I want to thank you for being an expert in the room and representing the all of the above strategy here.

I appreciate your call for people to reach out to their representative and to know who their representative is. [00:24:00] And that it is all accessible. As a reminder, and Ellen Troxclair, Representative Ellen Troxclair said the same thing. Her coming into office, the biggest thing she's learned is that a singular voice really has a big impact in our system.

That's right. If that voice knows where to start and get into the conversation and is willing to be in the conversation. So, like you, you ran because you got frustrated with some things and wanted to make a change. We'd encourage everybody to get involved in that process. At minimum voting.

Absolutely. If everybody's voting, we're getting better candidates. We're getting better results. And I think we should encourage all Texans to think about at the local level where, where's work happening? What's going to impact their kids and their business? And who's really in charge of that? And that's an educational process and journey that you'll learn your school board.

Your city council, your commissioner court, all the way up to [00:25:00] your state representative.

Jon Rosenthal: Absolutely

Justin McKenzie: right. Well, Representative Rosenthal, thank you today for what you're doing and the way that you're Building Texas. Thanks so much.

This is Justin McKenzie from Building Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community. Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business.

or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus.org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas. Das Greenhaus.[00:26:00]

Will Roman: Founder & Chief Texan of Chisos Boots

Building Texas Episode 33 - Will Roman, Chief Texan and Founder of Chisos Boots

Will Roman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Building Texas with Justin McKenzie and Somer Baburek, sponsored by the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and Das Greenhaus. And now, here's your host, Justin McKenzie.

Justin McKenzie: Welcome to Building Texas. My name is Justin McKenzie and you're listening to Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM.

I'm thrilled to be in studio at Das Greenhaus with Somer Baburek today. Welcome back, Somer. Thank you.

Somer Baburek: I'm glad to be back. Glad to not have the flu

Justin McKenzie: anymore. You've been all over the country too during the holidays and presenting and winning,

Somer Baburek: pitching. Yes. Yes. You know, got to go to the West Coast, but glad to be home.

Glad again not to Not to be sick.

Justin McKenzie: It's going around. Yeah. We're joined by the Chief Texan of Chisos Boots and the founder of Chisos Boots, Will Roman. I've known Will for a [00:01:00] while, and I've always been curious and inspired by his jump into e commerce and entrepreneurship. He'll tell a little bit more about his story, but he has a background that is really Texas based, went to the West coast and then came back to Austin.

So we'll look forward to getting to know him and learning more about his story. So, Will, thank you for joining us today.

Will Roman: Howdy, man. Thanks for having me on. It's good to see you again. Good to see you. And good

Justin McKenzie: to see you, Somer. Oh, same. Well, we all enjoy cowboy boots. Will makes some really comfortable ones.

I compare them to running shoes. They're really easy to slide into and spend the day on. But what got you into boots?

Will Roman: Well, I kind of didn't plan it. You know, walked into it backwards as they say. I had some hard living in my 20s, had a motorcycle accident and also was in a fraternity. And if anybody knows about that, there's some similarities.

Yes, that's a great point between a motorcycle accident. And the result was that I had some pretty significant back issues and You know, grew up in Texas, of course I wore cowboy boots, cowboy boots are just traditionally [00:02:00] stacked leather on the stacked heel and you're walking on concrete. And so all that would go up and hit my back and I would try and find something that was more comfortable, you know, buy them too big, put inserts in them, ended up buying some of these, you know, comfort quote unquote boots from China.

But what I wanted was a handmade boot and here in North America and I couldn't find it. And so I ended up going down to Half Price Books and getting books on boot making and then I started cutting open my boot collection and seeing how they were made and then I quickly wised up and got boots from Goodwill and cut those open instead.

But the, you know, fast forward, I ended up down in Mexico in a workshop, learning the process from some of the old school masters and about halfway through this, I started to see that not only could I make something more comfortable, And think about impact dissipation, think about some of the, all the, you know, these ideas that we've come up with, you know, from running shoes.

Like you mentioned, I noticed that a lot of the big brands are putting plastics in their boots and cheapening them. You know, they're pulling that old Gibson guitar trick [00:03:00] from the eighties. And so. I said, well, why don't I make something with all the tools from 1900, add the comfort and we might have a business here.

I didn't, I didn't intend to do it, but that was the result. I remember

Justin McKenzie: when you were talking about that trip into Mexico, cause it was an extended trip where you went city to city, really looking for the craftsmen and looking for the history of it. And the entrepreneurial story, how did you have the luxury of time to do that?

Will Roman: Well, I was in the process of selling a previous endeavor and they, you know, as that was winding down, I was pursuing this other thing. I spent most of 2019 actually on. In Mexico, I'd say about four months of actual time there. I rented a spot across the, down the street from the workshop. You know, I tried a couple of different spots and, and the other big thing people ask me is, well, why didn't you just start here in Texas?

Why did start here in Texas? One of the things that I found was that the amount of, you know, there's this broad range in the boot world, you know, there are on one. side of it, you've got an individual [00:04:00] craftsman making your entire pair of boots. This is the one that you're waiting two, three years for to get on the other side, you have these huge mass produced ones, you know, and they've taken cut all sorts of corners.

And I wanted to end up as close to the craftsman side as I could. And the. opportunities for learning that were pretty slim here. What I found out too is that most of the boots that are quote made by Texas brands are actually made in Mexico as well because they have this huge ecosystem around it. They still have this culture of craft that really is, you know, grown up.

I would say, you know, part and parcel with the Texas as our neighbor. So there's this whole, you know, back and forth between the two areas that just brought me right into it. You know, one of the things that I would say to anybody listening is that there's something in your life that you've tried to solve, or there's something that you are really a nerd about and obsessed about.

And that's where the magic lies. You know, I didn't start this trying to go out and build a boot company. If I had done that, [00:05:00] I probably would have made something like generic and not interesting. But what I wanted was something that I didn't see that existed. I became obsessed with, Oh, when you, when I cut open these other big brands, I saw that they're using plastics and they're using modern glues and cheap techniques.

And they're not actually caring about craft. And I care about craft and almost. Every aspect of my life, I'm obsessed with it. And I'm obsessed with quality and doing away with fast fashion and things that last. And so all of that has made its way into the boots. It's always by accident. I feel like some of the best things are created.

You don't set out trying to make somebody else happy. You set out trying to solve something that you see in the world around you, that you think you can improve.

Somer Baburek: I think one of the things that's always so interesting to me is, but and it really resonates with your story probably more so than other guests we've had is.

You start with this issue that you're facing personally, you know, you want a pair of boots, you want a comfortable pair of boots. And it becomes this like. thing, right? It's an obsession. And [00:06:00] all of a sudden it's like, well, why aren't they comfortable? Well, how are they made? And you just go down this rabbit hole.

And I hear a lot like when I go talk to people or when I have the luxury of doing things like mentoring, you know, some of these high school students and they're like, I don't know, I got to come up with an idea for a business. And it's like, what's the problem guy? Like it's a problem. And it starts. And I just love that it becomes this obsessive thing that you can't put down so much so that you're cutting open hundreds of dollars of pairs of boots to figure this out.

And I just, I think that's something you find that thread with entrepreneurs who are doing something that they're passionate about and they're doing it really well. It's that obsession with solving this thing that's bothering you, and I love that. I love that about

Will Roman: your story. Yeah, but I guess everyone's got to be addicted to something, so this is, uh, of all the things I could be addicted to, being obsessed, this is pretty good, right?

Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean,

Somer Baburek: better than motorcycles.

Justin McKenzie: Well, the other part about Will's story is he [00:07:00] markets to himself. So as a founder, the personality and persona of Chisos is very much Will. And he's made boots that he loves and lots of other people love them. For all the same reasons, but I think he's extremely precise to what he liked.

And as a founder, it takes a lot of confidence to stay on that vision versus all of the input that you get.

Will Roman: Confidence or ignorance, one or the other, but they're closely related. I think you're right though. I got lucky in this thing is that I. I wanted this thing to exist, it didn't exist, I decided I would make it for myself and along the way I discovered other people wanted it too.

I live in Austin and early on in the process when I would get prototypes I would take like six, seven, eight pairs of boots down to Sixth Street and I would set them up on a table at a bar and I would just show up. You know, the people will give you the most direct feedback are drunks. And people will walk up to me and they say, what is this?

This is a pop up shop. I said, no, but try them on. Tell me what you think. And I would get all these people trying on the boots and the different insult types I had and the different designs. And one of the [00:08:00] things that's also interesting about what you said is that. You know, the world needs people who are excited about what they personally want to see in the world, what they want to create, you know, when you use there, look, there's certainly an aspect here of going large and going broad and using market research and all that type of stuff that I'm not going to say doesn't have its value.

But when you're getting started, you need people that are going to be equally excited and passionate about the thing you're making as you are. And the only thing that people get excited about is something that's unique that another individual also cares about. If you try and cater too much to the crowd, you're going to end up with something generic.

And I think, you know, one of the pieces on that is that our number one seller is the cheapest number two. And it is this, you know, call it a refined square toe. You know, it's not the big double welt, it's not a big wide one. And it kind of doesn't fit into people's minds. It's a new toe shape. Everybody told me that was a bad idea.

And I was like, well, I like it. Turns out it's our number one

Somer Baburek: seller. That's crazy. To your point about going broad. That just becomes a law [00:09:00] of numbers. How many people can I get to buy this product if not any more than one time, right? Like, and I see that a lot. I see pitches for that, and I see entrepreneurs who are chasing just the law of numbers.

Yeah, it's gonna work. I mean, a lot of those things work, and that's fine. But I remember there was somebody a long, long time ago who said to me, There are riches in the niches. And it's to what your point is, going really, really deep, making something very specific for a select group of people who really, really want that thing and will pay for it.

There, there is a lot of value in that. And I think people miss it for the law. And they're like, Oh, I got to get, you know, 50 million customers and whatever. No, you don't not to have a sustainable business. It depends on what you're trying to do, but if it's sustainable business, you don't need 50 million

Will Roman: customers.

I think it plays in a lot to the business structure, right? So we're not VC back. We don't have private equity money. We are bootstrapped, forgive the pun. And what means is that I [00:10:00] made. You know, 10 pairs of boots. When I started, I sold those and we went back and we made 30 pairs and we sold those and we kept going.

And so, you know, when you talk about the numbers that you have to hit and how you have to make a sustainable business, if I want to live a good life and I have, you know, if I raised, I don't know, 10, 20 million in funding or something along this, you now have this. And not only have you given yourself an entire board of bosses, but you have a massive amount of revenue you have to create.

And there's an exit that you have to go towards. And essentially what we, what Cheezos is, is an old school family business. And we kind of happened to be online. And, you know, at the moment we are, we're a little bit in transition of going from literally a little shop in South Austin to having a.

Fulfillment warehouse, but it gives us so much more flexibility and independence because we did not raise any outside money And also that means that we don't have to pursue these insane targets You know, you can have a much smaller amount of revenue, but it's your net that matters and you can make a nice life

Somer Baburek: right, and you don't [00:11:00] have those people on the board that are just Driving you crazy saying, Oh, you know, today I've decided I'm coming into the board meeting

Will Roman: and we should do this.

Yeah. That's just Justin every time he gives me a phone call.

Somer Baburek: That's sounds about right.

Justin McKenzie: So, Will, you've built a nice e commerce brand and have a passion for e commerce brands around the online aspect of it. You are solely online. You have one shop on South First, which is your headquarters, but your customers don't find you in a store, typically.

So how do you draw them in? How have you built the brand around yourself?

Will Roman: Well, I think this goes to just Doing the things that you like and speaking to yourself, we are, we are very lucky in the fact that as you mentioned, the target audience for Jesus is somebody like me. And so I get to create things that I want to create.

And so one of the things I noticed when we had the shop is people will come in and they would. Ask, how are you different? And I would show them all the boots I cut in half and they're like, this is remarkable. And so we made a [00:12:00] video on YouTube where we cut open a pair of Jesus boots and we cut open our two largest competitors here in the state of Texas.

And we just showed people exactly what's inside each of them. And, you know, I wouldn't say it went viral, but it got a couple of hundred thousand views. And that was really our start where people said, Hmm, there's, there's something different about these guys. And we got to follow that up. With, we went out to a friend's ranch in central Texas and we put a bunch of Tannerite gasoline in the booms and we blew them up.

We ran over with a Humvee. We shot with AR 15. We were like, okay, if cheeses are so tough, how tough are they? And so people find us. through videos. They find us through YouTube. They find us through a word of mouth is a big one, but we have nothing to hide. Unlike some of the other companies out there, we want you to see what's inside our boots.

We want to show you the process. We want to show you the secret sauce because the way we do, it's harder and it's more difficult, but there's a value in that. I think this idea of just being a real person in a real company and not trying to hide things [00:13:00] really resonates with people. Well, you're

Justin McKenzie: listening to Building Texas on Boerne Radio 103.

9 FM. I'm here with Somer, and we have Will Roman as our guest. When we come back from the break, we're going to talk about the Hill Country and what does that mean to Will? This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business. or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus.org or come visit us at 7 Upper Valcones Road, Boerne, Texas.

Das Greenhaus.

Welcome back to Building Texas. I'm Boerne, Radio [00:14:00] 103. 9 FM. We're joined today by Will Roman, the Chief Texan of Chisos Boots, and having a conversation really about the story of Chisos, how he built it. And as we come out of the break, I want to talk about Why Texas is so important to the brand around boots But then, what does the future look like for Chisos?

You've built a company. Where do you make your next choices and decisions on

Will Roman: scale? Mmm, that's a good question. I like how you, how you phrase it about, How do we make the choices about scale? You know, I think that a lot of people's default is to grow at all costs. But, Chisos is a local boot brand at its heart.

This is the vehicle that, you know, I use to live in community in Austin. You know, we, we have a shop, we have people that come by, we have people that come from all over Texas. You know, we have people that drive in from Tyler, clearly from San Antonio and Boerne. We've got people from, from the Valley that will.

Make trips up just to come see us and meet us and see what's [00:15:00] going on at the shop. You know, we host community events. We raise money for the Texas Military Forces Museum every spring. We raise money for Texas land conservation and it's kind of what business used to be where you're connected to the people around you.

You know, you mentioned earlier that we're in e commerce and we're, and we're doing that and we are. It is a means to an end. It's certainly a skill set that I think modern product businesses have to have. You know, we get to cater to a national audience now and even a global audience. But what drives Chisos, the guiding light for Chisos is that I wanted to build something from the beginning that connected me to the people that I live next to.

That enabled me to have a place, a gathering spot. Justin, the reason I am here on this show is because you were driving by Jesus and you saw my truck and you popped in to say hi, right? And then we got to visit and hang out and catch up. That is the heart of it. That is the root of it. And, you know, boots in particular, of course, are core to the Texas identity, you know, and just a fun [00:16:00] fact out there is that the United States.

buys 2 billion worth of cowboy boots at retail every year. And 1 billion of that is in Texas. So we are half of the entire United States market. So we take boots seriously in this state, but you know, boots are not just a piece of. footwear. When you pull on a pair of cowboy boots, it's a little bit like pulling on a uniform.

You know, people look at you differently. You represent a certain set of values. You represent the idea that you do care about your community and that you're a person who has that independence and has that self sustaining aspect and mentality that you're able to provide and protect. And I think that there's a lot that's wrapped up into that.

And when you, when you wear those boots, You walk a little differently and people look at you a little differently. And so I think that all of these things come back to the root of it is that it's a community focused brand, even down to the product that we sell.

Somer Baburek: Interesting. I say that because I like your word choice with uniform.

So [00:17:00] I, I don't know if Justin told you this. I used to rodeo professionally. I rodeoed in college. I won a scholarship to college for rodeo, did it professionally. And It's so funny because you do that and people learn that about me now that I'm in biotech. It's really freaks them out. Um, so that's a lot of fun for me, but they're like, Oh, so like you wear your cowboy hat and your shirt, like, where's your, where's all this?

And I'm like, yeah, it's a uniform. Like that was my job. I did that professionally. If you work at Sonic, when you go out with your friends, do you put on your Sonic visor and your roller skates and your polo? No, you don't. You just dress like you normally would dress, and that's how I did, but the one thing that I always did continue to wear was my cowboy boots.

Yeah. Because Those were comfortable. That was what I wanted to wear. I mean, I wasn't going to run like a marathon in them, but still, that was a, that was one aspect of it that was part of who I was. And so I would wear that in normal, you know, exchanges. [00:18:00]

Will Roman: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me, you know, like you said about the uniform and the hat and everything.

And I, but the boots carrying over is really, really. poignant. You know, there is this aspect. So we all have multifaceted identities, right? You know, the person you are on, you know, when you're out, you know, playing competitive sports is different than the person that you bring to, you know, teaching Sunday school on Sunday morning.

Right. And there's an old Japanese saying, which is that he is who he is in this room. And so I think that this way that we show up at the different places in our lives, have unique aspects of it. However, there is this throughput and the throughput, the line that goes through all of it is the values that you carry and how you choose to live your life.

And it is. Fascinating to me and I think it's just ingrained in me personally, but also in a lot of Texans that our boots are an extension of that They are this almost physical manifestation to pull back for a second Yeah, people make fun of me on the internet all the time. They make they go. Why why does it?

Why does it matter so much? Melissa's they go why does it that big of a deal and I and my [00:19:00] response to that is like yes, sure You can just Put on some, you know, Chinese made boots and not think about what you're wearing. Or, you can choose to live intentionally in your life, and that things are going to have meaning, and that you're going to buy local, and you're going to support small businesses, and you're going to get honey from the grandma down the road, and that you are going to live a life of intention and purpose.

And these small decisions that we make about what we purchase, and what we wear, and how we think about it, are actually really powerful. But I think that's

Somer Baburek: such a silly point for them to make, because it's no different than when You have a job interview or you have a big meeting with your boss that day.

Or, you know, quite frankly, sometimes if I'm going to go meet with an investor who is a, you know, a big investor and we'd really like to have them on our cap table or whatever it is, everybody puts on something. Like it's something, it may be a blazer, it may be your cologne, it may be, for me, it's a pearl, um, earring that my mother gave me.

I call them my good luck earrings. Or, you know, for some [00:20:00] ladies out there, it's those red bottom shoes, you know, and they feel like a boss when they walk in the room because they're wearing that shoe and that shoe says something about who they are showing up as that day. And that's exactly your point. So it's silly to make it just about the cowboy boot.

It's not just about the cowboy boot. It's about how you feel. feel when you bring that into your life and make that an intentional choice of your day.

Will Roman: Yeah, well, you know, haters gonna hate it as the kids say these days. As the kids

Justin McKenzie: say. How is the internet these days? You're on it quite often doing, doing things with your boots, telling these type of stories.

You mentioned you take feedback from people. How do you as a founder continue to just move forward

Will Roman: with that? One of the things that I have, um, one, I don't carry a smartphone with me whenever I can. I don't have one on me. And the one that I do have, it doesn't have any social media, it doesn't have anything on it.

It doesn't have a web browser on it. It only does text messaging and I guess I could do my two factor for my bank. And so the reason I bring all that up is that you have to, you know, one piece of unsolicited advice I would give to other [00:21:00] founders who happen to need to be a face of their business, especially in the early days, is that find those boundaries.

You know, we don't do anything that's quote, intimate with the Chisos brand that you don't get personal details, you know? So you mentioned that when you first introduced me that I'm the founder and chief Texan at Chisos, which is a little bit of a tongue in cheek, right? Cause we don't, you know, we don't have an executive team, so it doesn't make sense to call me the chief executive officer, but I am the chief Texan within the business.

And it also has enabled us to create. You know, the character that I play on the internet is one piece of my identity, but it's not my entire identity. You don't, you, and I don't discuss things that are actually personal to me. The other thing is that I heavily go one direction. So my team now is at the beginning, of course, I was the one running all the social media.

I was reading all the comments. I was active on all the places and I'm still active on all the, the boot enthusiast forums and things like that. However, I have gotten to the point where. As your brand grows and your awareness grows, the amount of people you're going to expose to gets further and further and larger and [00:22:00] larger.

And there's going to be people in there who opinions you shouldn't be listening to. You're so right. And so you have to protect your creative instinct from that and go back to the thing about why are you doing this in the beginning. You're doing it because it's something that you want to create, that you're passionate about, and that other people who are in your immediate circle Also want to exist.

And so you got to make sure that you, you keep that focus. It's, I would say, make sure you put a buffers of, of what feedback it's filtered to you.

Justin McKenzie: Somer jumps in here. I want to say both of you are very intentional with what you create content wise. You have a very specific content team. Uh, Will has very specific content that's made.

You both started that very early in your cycles. It wasn't like you waited till series A to start doing real marketing. You are making great content that's helped you manage your brand online. It helps you keep the conversation in the direction you want to go. As a founder coming in, where would you make that investment looking back?

Is it. [00:23:00] day one. Is it day 30? Is it?

Will Roman: Where is it in the negative 100? So here's the thing. Start bringing people into your story as soon as possible. And the other aspect of this is that the guiding light for the content that we created. She sows is that we do things our competitors cannot do. They cannot be Small and values driven because they're already big and trend driven, right?

They cannot put their CEO on who is part of a private equity group that has bought this company for the 12th time and doesn't know how to talk to like a normal person. Right? So lean into what you can do that your competitors cannot do. People are starved for realness and for real individuals and for honesty and truth and transparency.

And so that's what you create.

Somer Baburek: I echo that. You know this about me, Dustin. We've been very, very intentional and to your point, Will. No, no personal.

Will Roman: I do a little sprinkle in personal, but no intimate. I think that's the, that's the

Somer Baburek: difference. Yeah, yeah, that's a better way to phrase it, yeah. [00:24:00] It's, I want you to know me personally because that's part of what we're doing here, right?

But nothing, nothing too close because it is irrelevant. You get pulled into all sorts of stuff like, Oh, did you see this? You know, you really should comment on this. No, I shouldn't. That's not my

Will Roman: job. Yeah, so that's another piece about this is that so, um, Jesus's content is not about the company. It's not about me.

It's about our customers. You know, your customers are on a journey in their life. You know, I understand the role that I'm playing here. You know, I'm a merchant, I'm providing a tool, and I'm providing a piece that they can use their own travels, right? It's, you know, think about, I don't know, a great epic like Lord of the Rings, like, perhaps we are Gandalf, but the story is about Frodo.

And so all of our content comes back to being about The customer and whether it's education or it's sharing with them an adventure or it's talking about the values of Texas or something along that which is pretty much our three core pillars. It's not about what is, we'll think about something. It's always about them and how [00:25:00] they can move forward on their own journey.

Justin McKenzie: You're listening to Building Texas on Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM. As we wrap up the conversation with Will, where would you find optimism for future founders that are looking to solve a problem? They're sitting on the edge of, I want to do something for myself and I think I have an idea. I think

Will Roman: we're lucky.

Someone asked me recently, Why did you build your business in Texas? And my answer is because this is where I'm from. This is where I live. And for those out there who have thought, Well, I'm here. Great. Because Texas right now is probably in the best position. It's been in his entire history. The resources, the fact that we're sitting here at Greenhaus in Boerne, Texas, that you've got angel groups, you've got advisors.

I'm in Austin and I am a part of a meetup. We meet up twice a month. I've guys, we're just getting started. Cause we're doing six figures, seven figures. It's eight figures approaching nine. One of the guys in the group has a 400 million a year CBG business, right? And I just get to ask them questions and I get to see their growth patterns.[00:26:00]

Here right now in Texas, if you're just getting started, this is probably the best time and one of the best places in the country to do so.

Justin McKenzie: Well, Will, thank you for coming down to Das Greenhaus in Boerne, Texas and joining us today. We're excited about the way you're building Texas and everything that you're doing.

Thanks

Will Roman: for having me. This has been great.

Justin McKenzie: This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community. Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business.

or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas. Das Greenhaus.