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This podcast starts with savvy advice from Heather Silliman, Associate Vice President of Client Services, who counsels smaller businesses to plant their flag in one place and grow from there. Then Jeff Randolph, chief marketing officer at EAG, introduces us to the coolest (make that the coldest) entrepreneur in Kansas City. Meet James Thomas, founder and owner of Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Shop. When COVID changed our lives and laws, Mr. Thomas leveraged an opportunity to bring fun, frozen cocktails to people wherever and whenever they wanted.
Transcript
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I am Jeff Randolph. This Small Business Miracles podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re going to talk about marketing and we’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice business owners can use to keep moving forward, plus, a featured interview you’re not going to want to miss. Today, we’re talking to James Thomas with Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri. I am excited to get to it.
We are here with Heather Solomon. She is the associate vice president of Client Services and this is officially your first time on the podcast. Welcome, Heather.
Heather Silliman:
Thank you. Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
Excellent. Hey, tell us first, because you’re the associate vice president of Client Services, what is it you’d say you do here?
Heather Silliman:
I manage a book of accounts as I’m the point person and I make sure that I manage their budget, their strategy, get all the projects done on time, on budget, and with results. And additionally, then I work with the account team in training and best practices so they can put those skills to work with the accounts that they manage.
Jeff Randolph:
I know that’s off the cuff, but you could write that as a job description. Well done.
Heather Silliman:
Well, I’m glad you’re recording this so I can have that down.
Jeff Randolph:
You can type it up.
Heather Silliman:
That’s right.
Jeff Randolph:
This is the portion of the show where we talk about tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs, and if you had one piece of advice you would give to a business owner, what would you say?
Heather Silliman:
When it comes to marketing your business and how to spend your budget, I practice the philosophy of be somebody somewhere.
Jeff Randolph:
Be somebody somewhere, unless we’re dealing with temporal time distortions or something. What does that mean? What does be somebody somewhere mean?
Heather Silliman:
That means that a lot of people want to like, “Oh, well, we can be on TV, we can have a billboard, we have an online presence.” Well, that would be great, but you may not have the budget to be in all of those places, so let’s use your budget where it’s going to be more impactful. Don’t water it down and try to be a little bit everywhere, plant your flag someplace and say, “Nope, we can’t do it all. We’re just going to do X.”
And it used to be old school days when your options for marketing were TV, radio, billboard, yeah, you would choose, “Okay, I can’t afford both radio and TV, so okay, we’re just going to do TV.” Well, that plays even today when we’ve moved… and to incorporate I guess the digital realm of options. And you may not be able to afford Facebook and display, retargeting, video, email marketing. So look at all of those things. You know how much budget you have, which of those options are going to deliver the best return for you, and spend your budget there. Don’t water it down and dabble, and, “I’m going to spend $50 on Facebook and $100 here.” No. Where’s your audience, where is your marketing dollar going to be most impactful and put it there.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. In my day, I worked with Kansas City advertising legend, Carl Yehle, who had the same piece of advice that was, “Attack with impact.”
Heather Silliman:
Yes, same thing.
Jeff Randolph:
Don’t just go into, you can say, “Oh, we can be on TV and I’ll be on TV at the minimum level I could possibly spend to get somebody’s attention at the station.” Not necessarily everybody’s attention listening, but just get a salesperson’s attention and say, “Yeah, I want this TV commercial.” And then you can’t really afford to be on at a time when people can watch.
Heather Silliman:
Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
So many difficulties there.
Heather Silliman:
Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s that there are many tactics you can get into where you can’t fully fund them where, “Yeah, I could be here,” but are you being effective, or is that money essentially wasted?
Heather Silliman:
Exactly. And there’s so many things you have to keep in mind too in that, especially in any marketing frequency is key. The consumer needs to see something. It could be three times, it could be 23 times. And especially when you’re playing in mass media with radio or TV, that’s expensive to do, so you’re going to have to dial it down and find, okay, where am I going to get the most bang for my buck? I’m full of metaphors today.
Jeff Randolph:
This is so much metaphor. But I mean, you’ve worked with auto dealers and major fast food retail. You’ve worked with some pretty big spenders on media in the day, and obviously, you can do it wrong. You could be on and spend money that you’re just wasting. Don’t do that.
Heather Silliman:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Great advice. Great advice for business owners. Pay attention. Don’t try to be everywhere.
Heather Silliman:
Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
Just be somebody-
Heather Silliman:
Somewhere.
Jeff Randolph:
… somewhere. Thanks, Heather.
Heather Silliman:
You’re welcome.
Jeff Randolph:
Hey, welcome to the podcast. I am here with James Thomas at Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Bar first. Welcome, James.
James Thomas:
Thank you for having me here, Jeff. Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
And samples, are samples nearby or are they-
James Thomas:
Not this morning. It was a little bit early in the morning to have samples, but if you want something, I can probably cook something up for you today.
Jeff Randolph:
You can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning.
James Thomas:
That is very true.
Jeff Randolph:
The other one is if you’re not wasted, the day is.
James Thomas:
That’s very true. I mean, it’s hot outside, so it gets them to cool down.
Jeff Randolph:
It is hot, hot as can be.
James Thomas:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, tell us about the business really quick. I’ve talked about samples and stuff. Nobody knows what we’re talking about. Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Bar, what is the business?
James Thomas:
So Brain Freeze is a mobile daiquiri bar that serves daiquiri straight to you. So our mission is to bring the soul and taste of New Orleans straight to your doorstep.
Jeff Randolph:
Man.
James Thomas:
Whether you’re at home or at the office, of course, you drink out at the office, or out and about somewhere, we can bring daiquiris, some frozen drinks straight to you.
Jeff Randolph:
If that doesn’t sound like filling a customer need. The marketing concept is figuring out what people want and giving it to them. And you’ve done exactly that. So give me the origin story. You mentioned New Orleans. What’s the inspiration for this?
James Thomas:
Yeah. So when I was younger, I traveled a lot to Dallas and to Texas and to Florida and New Orleans, and Daiquiri shops down, they were very popular. Everyone had a good time. The flavors were good. Everyone was like, the energy was just so good and the vibe was perfect.
And I wanted to rent at Kansas City. So during COVID, everyone was shut down and locked in the house. I’m trying to think of different things to do for business. And so, I joined a accountability group, and every week we met up and talked about different goals and passions that we had. And one of the goals I had was to open a daiquiri shop. So Kansas City already had one, but doing something a little bit different with the twist to it.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
James Thomas:
So I came with a whole mobile concept to where I come straight to you versus you coming to us. So during COVID, legislation made it legal to have to-go alcohol on the go. So I was like, “This is perfect. Now, I wanted to-go alcohol, it’s legal now. I can go ahead with it.” So after about a year of processing with licensing and permits and things like that, the fun parts of the business.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. Unfortunately, the pandemic wasn’t over at that point.
James Thomas:
Right.
Jeff Randolph:
By the time you get all the licenses, you could still keep doing it.
James Thomas:
Right. Exactly. And so, I want to do something where people didn’t have to be too close together. People would still keep a distance and stuff like that. So finally a year ago, I got Brain Freeze off the ground and the baby was born.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh man, that is spectacular. I like the origin story. So, trials and tribulations along the way, or what has that process looked like for you?
James Thomas:
Definitely I picked the hardest industry to get into.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, booze. Regulation.
James Thomas:
Yeah, booze is definitely a not easy task. This is not Texas or Florida, so liquor laws in Kansas, and Missouri is very difficult, very challenging. So there was a lot of loopholes. I had to fight and go through them red tape to get things in a process and not on the go.
So after getting all that taken care of, figuring out the way how I can make it like a mobile concept, finally, it’s here.
Jeff Randolph:
Where does the recipe come in? Is that just an easy, like that’s the easiest part of this whole process is coming up with the actual menu?
James Thomas:
Yeah. So I have a provider that makes the mixes and stuff in Oklahoma. And so, I tell them, “Hey, I have a menu of 25 different options to where people can get different drinks. So there’s sangrias or daiquiris or margaritas or wine slushies. I can order it from them and they can then ship to my house and I can make drinks based on the menu.
Jeff Randolph:
Man. Okay. So if somebody’s deciding to have you there, we need to make room for a truck, or do you have the machines inside of a building or a house or anything? How flexible is this?
James Thomas:
Well, luckily for us, since we’re mobile, we can do indoor and outdoor events.
Jeff Randolph:
Excellent.
James Thomas:
So year-round, we can be in business operation-wise. So whether you want to sit in a garage or on a cul-de-sac, in your neighborhood, we can do either or.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh.
James Thomas:
So we’re very capable of doing. Nothing can stop us right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Nothing! Literally nothing can stop you.
James Thomas:
But I don’t want to jinx myself.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, no, that is spectacular. And so, is there any limitations to where you can go or the kinds of things you can do?
James Thomas:
No. So we’re licensed in both Missouri and Kansas. So anywhere between Excelsior Springs, Blue Summit, Belton, Gardner, Lawrence, Kansas, that’s another hub. So we have two hubs in Lawrence and in Kansas City. So anywhere between point A and point B in Kansas City, we can be there.
Jeff Randolph:
I noticed the hours on your website are pretty spectacular. It’s five o’clock somewhere.
James Thomas:
Right.
Jeff Randolph:
Wherever you’d like us to be, we’re there.
James Thomas:
They want to start eight o’clock in the morning, I mean, I’m not a morning person, but if you wanted to start drinking eight o’clock, I can be there for you.
Jeff Randolph:
I think if you’re not a morning person, you can just charge more for mornings.
James Thomas:
Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
And then say, “Look, well, I’m happy to do it.”
James Thomas:
Right. It’s going to cost you a bit more for my inconvenience.
Jeff Randolph:
There’s time and a half for my inconvenience. Oh God, you bring happiness to everyone. Your social media commercial is posted on your website, and it’s a lot of pictures or videos of someone being handed a drink and sipping it and then just smiling and nodding. They don’t have work. They’re just happy to have this cool beverage in their hand.
James Thomas:
Yes. That’s one of the things I wanted to do is when you taste it like, oh, it brings you back memories to be on a beach or being in Mardi Gras, something like that. So I wanted to bring that type of feeling to your taste bud in Kansas City. We don’t have a beach here. I mean, we have lakes and stuff that can be a “beach.”
Jeff Randolph:
There are quotes there. There needs some quote-unquote on that one. How many events can you do at a time? I’ve seen three listed on the same day on your website?
James Thomas:
Yeah. I’m pushing myself that day. I have a corporate event that day and two public events that day. So, as long as things are staggered out time-wise, and then we can be in a certain spot in a one time, set up there, jumping another spot, set up there and just rotate locations. So normally, I try to do two at one time, but I’m trying to get more vehicle units so we can do three to four units at one time.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, man.
James Thomas:
Three is pushing it right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Three is pushing it. That’s a lot to keep straight, but man, if you can make that many different groups happy at once, you’re winning at that point.
James Thomas:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
What is next for Brain Freeze? What’s on the horizon? Where do you go from here?
James Thomas:
Yeah, so luckily, we’ve been fortunate enough to be sponsored with the commercial from Spectrum, on your TV screens across Kansas City and Lawrence area. So we want to grow, have more mobile units, do more events, of course, and get more daiquiri machines because people love having options and different things like that. And so, eventually next year or two, we want to have Kansas’s first drive-thru daiquiri shop. So you can actually drive through and get a drink to go.
Jeff Randolph:
I’m so glad that Kansas City and its surrounding area is starting to really, really make it into the future. That’s the right way.
James Thomas:
We’re moving forward. We’re progressing. Slowly but surely.
Jeff Randolph:
We’re progressive. I love being progressing in Kansas City.
James Thomas:
It took about 50 years, but we’re finally getting there.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Well, and I saw your clip on KCTV5. You were able to get all of those anchors tipsy, or maybe there wasn’t booze in there.
James Thomas:
It’s a hidden secret. No one knows.
Jeff Randolph:
Nobody knows. Nobody knows. And you were also a Kansas City Chamber Small Business Superstar.
James Thomas:
Yes, yes.
Jeff Randolph:
And so, you’re just picking up awards and accolades all over the place. People are recognizing that you’re living the dream, you’re doing it right.
James Thomas:
Yes. I mean it is amazing how much stuff that we started a year ago this weekend, how much we’ve accomplished. So be on channel five, having a commercial on Spectrum, doing Jalen Wilson’s graduation party last month.
Jeff Randolph:
I saw that. Number one basketball draft candidate from KU. You did the graduation party for Jalen Wilson.
James Thomas:
Yes. Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
Is that the coolest event you’ve worked so far? Or it is?
James Thomas:
I think so. Yeah. I mean, I did a fashion show last month as well for an NFL draft and a couple of chiefs players were there too. And so, just having the opportunity to do different events and different functions and specialties around Kansas City within the first year has just been amazing. It’s going to be even better next year.
Jeff Randolph:
Man, all good signs, all things pointing in the right direction, which means we should probably switch to something more difficult now, the lightning round.
James Thomas:
Uh-oh.
Jeff Randolph:
Don’t panic. Lightning round is okay. It’s shorter answers. Here are the rules to lightning round. Shorter answers, soundbite answers. We’re just going to keep it going. May or may not have anything to do with the business. It’s just kind of a potpourri, if you will.
James Thomas:
Sounds like in a daiquiri already.
Jeff Randolph:
It does. It’s a cool blend of questions. That’s it.
James Thomas:
All right. I’m ready.
Jeff Randolph:
What is your favorite flavor of daiquiri?
James Thomas:
I like hurricane and piña colada mix together.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, the red and white [inaudible 00:14:37]?
James Thomas:
Yeah, like the Miami vice but with a hurricane.
Jeff Randolph:
With a hurricane instead of the strawberry. So, what does that bring into the table?
James Thomas:
It’s a little bit more of a sweeter flavor, because I don’t like coconut.
Jeff Randolph:
Ah, so you want to match that a little bit?
James Thomas:
Yeah. It mixes the piña colada with the sweetness of the hurricane. It makes it enjoyable flavor.
Jeff Randolph:
Got it. Nice. Good choice. Let’s see. Blank check for your business. We say this is for Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Bar, what would you do with that blank check?
James Thomas:
I would definitely take it.
Jeff Randolph:
I will first accept.
James Thomas:
I’ll accept it. That’s the first thing you do.
Jeff Randolph:
We’ll do a giant check presentation.
James Thomas:
I want to invest in my company. Everything that I make in my company stays in my company, so I’ll definitely will invest in buying another vehicle and getting more machines so I can make more, I guess, revenue for the business.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. All right. And just keep expanding state-wise? Or is this a franchise model in the future?
James Thomas:
Yeah, I definitely wanted to expand to different regions across the metro and across the area, so I definitely want to do a franchising in a couple of years.
Jeff Randolph:
Setting yourself up. This is so big, so big. And it’s just bringing joy. Let’s see. You’ve grown through social media quite a bit and you can find where you’re going to be next on social. What’s your favorite social channel?
James Thomas:
Instagram.
Jeff Randolph:
Really? Okay.
James Thomas:
Instagram is my addiction. People say TikTok is their addiction.
Jeff Randolph:
Right.
James Thomas:
I have a TikTok too, but it’s not really sucking me in like people say it would. But I say Instagram right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, if it’s not sucking you in the way that people say it should, there’s a lot of science that goes into people just sitting on TikTok nonstop. But Instagram for you is the choice.
James Thomas:
Yeah, Instagram is my black hole. That seems weird.
Jeff Randolph:
Time moves differently there.
James Thomas:
Yes.
Jeff Randolph:
Small Business Chamber Superstar is a big win that you’ve had. How do you celebrate a big win? What is it that you do that is, “Hey, I’m going to treat myself. I’m going to celebrate this.” What do you do when you celebrate?
James Thomas:
I sleep. I don’t get much chance to sleep, but definitely sleeping is one of my favorite activities to do. Being a solopreneur, you don’t have much time to do anything but work. And so, I’m constantly working sun up to sundown on something, think of the next concept, next event, working on emails, things like that. So sleeping and eating, I will say.
Jeff Randolph:
The sleep part, that may be the best answer. It may be the most honest answer we’ve had from any of our entrepreneurs on the channel. There are so many things you can do to celebrate that win, and if you are a solopreneur, that is maybe the best thing you could do for yourself, recharge and be ready to go again. That’s so good. That’s just good advice. Outstanding. Well, tell me where can people find you? Where do they know where you’re going to be next?
James Thomas:
Yeah, check out my Facebook, Instagram, @brainfreeze_daiquiri, and my website, brainfreezedaq, D-A-Q.com.
Jeff Randolph:
Outstanding. James Thomas, Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Bar. Thanks for being with us today.
James Thomas:
Thank you for having me here. I appreciate it.
Jeff Randolph:
That is our show. Another thanks to James Thomas. Thanks for being here. Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri Bar. That’s just delicious. Thanks for listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five-star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’re going to be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.