Creating an Authentic Company Culture

Jeff Roberts 0:00

You don't have to reinvent . You . Look at the best Walt Disney . Disney says we hire friendly people and we make them Disney people . So at Yellowhammer , we hire friendly people and we make them Yellowhammer people . It's good , it's so simple . It's really not rocket science .

Rhett 0:14

I'm pushing back a little bit . People can put on and pretend to be friendly .

Jeff Roberts 0:18

Oh bro .

Rhett 0:18

How do you see through it ? Is there a way to push those buttons ? Well , way to push those buttons .

Jeff Roberts 0:21

Well , you can't see through it in an interview . We've had phenomenal interviews and then they get hired and our managers go oh my gosh , like they did not . This is not what I saw . It's very easy , it's part of the process . It's part of the process . So , as they're running through the , the now very structured training program , they're just like hey , like we're not cutting it in a lot of customer interaction , friend interaction , team interaction , all that stuff that's built in there .

Wes Hampton 0:49

So it's very easy to be like dude , you're not . You're just not hitting the level .

Rhett 1:00

Welcome back to another episode of Armchair Authentic , a podcast with your friends Rhett and Justin . It is our hope to have real conversations about real life with real people , and today you're in for a treat . We're continuing our conversation we started last week with CEO and co-founder of Yellow Hammer Coffee . That was founded in 2016 and now has grown to seven locations across South Alabama , and it's spreading like wildfire . My friends , we are continuing our conversation with Jeff Roberts .

Rhett 1:39

Now , if you're new to the podcast , welcome to the podcast family . It is so great to have you along on this journey . If you haven't already done so , can I encourage you to do two things ? Number one follow us on Instagram or Facebook . That is at Armchair Authentic . That's at Armchair Authentic . You can also follow us over on X at Armchair Auth Pod . That's Armchair Auth A-U-T-H-P-O-D . Now for the second thing is if the episodes are bringing value to your life , inspiration and even encouragement , could you do us a huge favor ? Would you take out your cell phone right now , copy the link from your favorite podcast platform and send it to a friend man ? That would mean so much to us . Thank you , all right , guys , we are jumping in , finishing up the cliffhanger from last week . Our conversation with Jeff Roberts continues now .

Jeff Roberts 2:39

So my regional manager said hey , um , I want to do something . I want to change the way we're interacting with our customers . I was like , okay , that sounds awesome . He goes , I want to systemize . He used this term . He said I want to systemize authenticity . I was like I don't think that's possible . He said I do . Speaking of authenticity , I mean , you guys are all about armchair authenticity .

Jeff Roberts 3:00

And so I was like I don't think that's a thing and that kind of sounds . He's like I think I can do it . So we read a book called unreasonable hospitality and based on , and then we read I love that book .

Jeff Roberts 3:10

It's a great book and then we read the disney book , uh , and then we read another book , I can't remember . So we formulated this plan of how we interact with our customers that we now call friends , and that's when we renamed what we even call them right , because it Cause it's one thing to say hey , did you get that customer over there in line three ? It's another thing to say , hey , did you grab that friend's order in line three , like it's just a different tone Right , and so it's a different way .

Jeff Roberts 3:33

It's a perspective . It's a perspective . So if a customer having a bad day , you have more grace for them .

Wes Hampton 3:43

Yeah , man I think Justin's having a bad day .

Justin 3:45

I love that I just man .

Jeff Roberts 3:46

I'm going to text him later and just encourage him , right . So it's a different , it's a flip on the mindset , and he did a phenomenal job of that . Led a team for eight months . They built out everything , changed the . So we have our culture cards . He did a whole nother thing , ran the whole thing , launched the meeting , did the whole thing . Now he's doing the follow-up on implementation , because that's what I told him Everyone's got great ideas , right , yeah , but it's really hammering down with are we executing on this ? And that's what he's done . A really good job of that . So that was our second attempt at really what does this healthy culture actually mean and how do we do it .

Justin 4:32

So how are you rolling that out to your employees ? Like , do you all ? Have a moment you get away , do you have a day . That's kind of , how does that work with a company that's always going ?

Jeff Roberts 4:42

You'll love this . So we thought that out , right . So we , it's all about buy-in , it's John Maxwell's principle , right ? It's a law , I think , it's the law of buy-in . So we got to get the whole company to buy into this . So we had a small team , we built out everything and then , second , the second meeting we had , was , was , was , with every store manager , and , and we threw the vision out and they were like this is awesome , you mean we could train faster , train better , have actual , like you know , like a list of how to speak to a friend and how to engage them . This is amazing , this will help us so much . They bought in . Then we did a separate meeting on a so we're closed . On Sundays , we did a separate meeting with a lot of the leaders in store . So that was managers , assistant managers , shift leads , anyone kind of in that role pitched that vision and they were like dude , this is amazing . So then we had a meeting two or three weeks ago on a Sunday with the entire company . So we got 90 people there , 95 , whatever , and we rolled it out and he actually did that part .

Jeff Roberts 5:37

So , historically , I've always spoken at every company meeting , just solely me . So I spoke , did a couple of sections and then Sam got up . That was his first time speaking at a company meeting . He got up and rolled this vision out , right , but I felt like it was important . I was like , hey , man , I don't want to pitch the vision you had , that I'm fully behind . So I think you need to do this . And he did a phenomenal job . And so he rolled that out to the entire company and they were like let's go , let's go get them , you know . And so that was a really good question .

Jeff Roberts 6:03

So we rolled it out on stages just to kind of like get get buying at the top . Get some more buying , get some more buying , get some more buying . Now it's company wide .

Justin 6:11

Yeah , so now when you onboard somebody , they're beginning to get this from day one .

Jeff Roberts 6:15

They get their culture cards . They don't know it's ever been different .

Rhett 6:18

They literally so on the customer end . Excuse me on the friend end , excuse me on the friend end . What's the experience like now ?

Rhett 6:24

Because what I've loved so far and maybe this is a dual triple question the way you've built this company is really based off of not what you think the customers want , sure , but really you've engaged with the customer in a way to hear their thoughts , to hear what they love , what they don't love , how things can get better . Sure , things can get better . So I feel like from the beginning of this thing , you were like I want feedback from those we're serving and inviting them in on the process to make them feel like they're a part of making it better for their experience and for the community's experience , so on and so forth . So what is the friend like , that shift into this friend type mentality ? What is that experience going to be like if anything different ? Is it just verbiage ? Or how's that going to feel Like if I'm going through the drive-through line or I'm walking inside one of your stores ? How am I going to feel that friend difference ?

Jeff Roberts 7:14

So we have secret shoppers and they go in and they test . Against the list of all these things I should have brought Sam .

Jeff Roberts 7:19

Sam could lay this out for me because he knows all the points . I'm kind of doing this a little from memory . I wish I had a sheet in front of me , basically , and this has always kind of been our heart . We just didn't have it like written out , right . So it's so important to put this on paper at yellow hammer . We care more about how you're doing than what you want , right ? That's just out the gate . So we really try to train with oh hey , what's up ? What do you ?

Rhett 7:43

want yeah .

Jeff Roberts 7:43

Like , like that kind of . So what , what we expect in the secret shoppers ? They , they are drilling down for this right Red dude . What's up , man ? How's your day going ? What are you up to man ? Oh man , just running by , got a meeting or a doctor's appointment or whatever . Right , we're like dude . That's amazing . Hope it goes from day one , but we've really like put this in writing , you know .

Rhett 8:00

And so it's , it's . How are you first ?

Jeff Roberts 8:08

How is your day going ? And then , what can we get for you , you know , and not the other way around . And then and then , based on that engagement , what we're trying to do is match energy . We don't want to over blow the energy out .

Rhett 8:20

We were talking about , like Dutch bros . I'll just throw Dutch Bros under the bus .

Jeff Roberts 8:23

Dude , they'll be like what's up my guys .

Wes Hampton 8:25

I would literally choose .

Rhett 8:27

I know I'm speaking to Northwesterns here . If you're in Alabama , you might not understand what human being is versus a . Dutch Bros , but it's this drive-thru coffee experience .

Wes Hampton 8:35

Coffee's about the same .

Rhett 8:36

Experience is totally different . I will blow by a Dutch Bros just to go to human being so . I don't feel like somebody's crawling through the window jumping in my car .

Justin 8:45

Hey , what you doing this weekend . How's your family ?

Rhett 8:49

Yeah , it's like , what are you doing right now after you get this coffee ? I want to know , I want to invade your personal privacy and it's like there's this lack of awareness , right , and so that's the extreme human being I'm going to get like hey , it's nice to have you today .

Wes Hampton 9:04

We're so glad you're with I hope you're having a great day .

Jeff Roberts 9:05

You know what would you like . You know we try to run more on those , but if someone's just through the roof , energetic like what's up man , so dude , what's going on you match but , a lot of people were like hey , man , how's your day going ? Caramel frap . Like oh man , I totally got that for you , like so . So we're rebonding language self-awareness yes so we're trained , as some people , you know , some people pipe up , you know , but we're trained to just not keep pushing it right so it's kind of like man if someone doesn't want to engage , that's totally fine .

Jeff Roberts 9:31

So we have another term called bid for connection , and so we did bid , bid okay , we want to bid for connection , okay . And so , man , during that order process , camera frap . You know , let me get this , let me get that dude . So we just say , dude , I'll notice your steering wheel cover , man , that's , that's amazing , right ? So we're trying to throw out these bids I love that you're seeing if anyone's gonna hook the bid yeah and so sometimes I don't .

Justin 9:52

That makes sense , and that's totally fine , it's the win when , when someone leaves and you're like wait , I finally got that smile . It might have just been a smile , but you feel like you won the moment one of my guys .

Jeff Roberts 10:02

his name's Matt . You will always smile when you leave . You can be in the worst mood ever , just hating life . You will smile before you leave and he's just really good at it .

Justin 10:13

That's so good .

Jeff Roberts 10:14

Bid for connection was another term that came out of that . So we are always throwing out . And then we have another phrase that we say I always have a second for you , always . And I failed

Bank to Coffee Shop Transformation

Jeff Roberts 10:26

on this . So we were opening the bank , we were so under the gun . We had a um , a friends and family night , so we're running around trying to clean everything up , trying to just make it look decent .

Rhett 10:34

Can I put a pin in that really quick ? When you say opening the bank , it was a bank that was in a location that's no longer there and you guys moved into this . This is like your primo , what you know . This is like your primo flagship type store . I haven't seen it . I've seen it online . You need to come down , so when you're talking about opening up a flagship store in this old bank .

Jeff Roberts 10:50

This is what you're referring to Correct . Thank you for that for listeners that don't know which is most people . So , yeah , we bought a bank . We repurposed it to be a coffee shop . We have four drive-thru lanes on this thing , so it's , it's a monster .

Justin 11:01

I got to know do you have a vault ? Yeah , yes , we do .

Jeff Roberts 11:04

We literally have we turned it into a friend hang area .

Justin 11:08

I love it , baby . It's amazing we left .

Jeff Roberts 11:10

So it was real pretty with the sheet rock , you know , and look cute . We ripped the sheet rock off to show the exposed concrete you can see the burglary stamp over the door .

Justin 11:19

I love it .

Jeff Roberts 11:20

It's about this thick and it weighs probably a thousand pounds .

Rhett 11:23

I had to make sure we could we had to pin it open Cause I was scared someone was going to lock , you'll lose your finger If you slam it in the

Wes Hampton 11:31

door like some kids plan game over right , everybody wants that spot .

Justin 11:35

It's always full . You can never .

Jeff Roberts 11:37

If you ever go in there , it is someone else's already , like the place could be empty and someone's in the ball , like it is the thing and the light is cool in there and it's got the wood panels on the back , so you're adding a little bucket list when people are listening .

Justin 11:50

It's like whenever we come through there , no matter where we're from , we're going to stop at the vault .

Rhett 11:54

People go out of their way to stop at a Buc-ee's . If you're driving through on I-10 or 65 South and you're making your way to the beach or New Orleans or however you're passing through going to Florida or Louisiana , you have to make a stop at Yellowhammer . Coffee and you have to experience this . I can't wait to get to experience . I'm going to grab my Fusacli's chicken alongside some coffee . That's it , man . Shout out to Foo , foo and Yellowhammer . Yeah , yeah .

Jeff Roberts 12:20

But back to this idea of I have the second for you . We're trying to open the bank location . I'm running around like a crazy person . Matt , the guy I was saying you're always leaving a smile . He comes to me , he goes hey , man , there's a customer sitting in the drive-thru that would just love to speak to the owner . He wanted to compliment you guys and what we're all doing together and stuff .

Jeff Roberts 12:39

In that moment I was like Matt , I really don't have time for this man . Please apologize for me . I'm so sorry . He was like no , I totally get it . He's like cause he's seeing all the chaos , he goes , dude , totally get it . I'll take care of him , don't worry about it . I lost sleep over that and the two days later I went back to Matt . He's a young kid , cool this can be . He's like what good job . I was like bro , I should have taken a second and gone out and spoken to that friend and I didn't . And that sucks because I I'm sitting at the tone here , right . So when he's a vp somewhere in yellow hammer , right , he's like dude , I'm on top right , but I wanted him to see a model .

Wes Hampton 13:15

Yeah , that's good .

Jeff Roberts 13:16

I was like I messed up , bro . I was like I really should have went out there . And so we implemented those phrases right , bid for a connection . I always a second for you . There's just all this stuff that we're building into our train , right , and so we try to do it in such a way that it's really great experience for the friend right . And so they leave and they're like they actually do care about me and they're not overly . So the biggest compliment we got paid . We had a couple move I think they're in the coast guard , we a couple move , I think , from arizona to mobile and they went to yellowhammer for the first time and somehow ran into mo . Mo was just there and they're like , hey , we're from out of , we actually just moved here . And she's like , oh my gosh , where are you guys from arizona ? And she was like dutch bros . And they were like , yes , dutch bro , that that's what we do , you know .

Jeff Roberts 13:57

And then seven brew and all this stuff and she literally said she said you guys are doing such a better job than either one of those . She goes Dutch bros is too extreme . Seven brew is just a direct copy of Dutch bros , so no one really respects them , she would have said that Like I mean , she was like straight up .

Rhett 14:13

Can I just stop for ? A second Seven brew here in Moody Alabama I'll never go back to again you ready for it and the reason why . And I'm not throwing them under the bus .

Wes Hampton 14:20

but the reason why I ?

Justin 14:21

will you are . You're actually are .

Rhett 14:23

It's because I am 47 years old and I had a 16 year old call me baby and sweetie and cutie every time . Hey , cutie , what you want today ? Or hey , babe , how are you doing ? I'm like , I am a . I am first of all , I'm old enough to be your granddad . You're making it very weird and if this is how you're trying to sell coffee to get a tip , you got to stop and I get it . Training is hard and difficult . I'm not seeing seven brew and their executive . Maybe they want people to lead that way , but , like you know , that's not . I mean , you need to know your demographic Number one . We're talking about moody country , alabama , 16 year olds , like talking to old men as if they're flirty flirty flirty .

Jeff Roberts 15:07

I'm like no , thank you , I told my wife .

Rhett 15:08

I said I'm never going back there again and their coffee's not that great anyway , justin , you don't hurt my feelings .

Justin 15:11

Everything he just named is exactly what I'll call him when we're texting each other . Hey , cutie , hey man , hey , hey baby , what's he doing ?

Wes Hampton 15:14

it's on texas , not in a drive-thru , he's okay with you , you know it's fine , we've got some mystery , it's all good .

Rhett 15:20

I mean we're being authentic , why not ?

Wes Hampton 15:21

go ahead and just open up .

Rhett 15:23

So there are some people second guessing my ability to come out and speak at their church at the end of this .

Jeff Roberts 15:28

Hey , man , I told you it was a mistake to have me on this thing .

Wes Hampton 15:31

You can verify this I'm like you guys don't want me coming up there .

Jeff Roberts 15:34

Trust me , this will ruin all y'all's reputation .

Rhett 15:37

So you were saying the difference between Dutch Bros and Seven Brew . You're trying to live in that lane . You've got somebody from the midwest or west coming out sharing that with you , that's high praise .

Jeff Roberts 15:45

She literally told us that she goes you guys are doing such a phenomenal job . You don't seem like you're a ripoff of anyone , you're doing your own thing . And she goes it's so authentic , yeah . And then I was like that's when it clicked in me and I was like , oh my gosh , I think sam did systemize authenticity . I'm like it's awesome . He did it , you know . I'm like so it's awesome .

Justin 16:02

He did it .

Jeff Roberts 16:02

You know , I'm like so it's , it's just God , it's , it's , it's amazing . But I gave him the capacity to say run with it .

Justin 16:08

You're creating the potential for authenticity to exist , like you're creating the template and if people abide by that and they actually can bring their unique side that you embrace and they come in and operate , it's creating an authenticity and that's great , and I'm not scared of him doing a better job than me .

Wes Hampton 16:25

I'm not scared of him being a better speaker .

Jeff Roberts 16:27

He was a better speaker . This , this team , this team meeting we had . He was a better speaker than me and that does not make me afraid or scared or insecure .

Justin 16:35

I'm like that's another secret . I literally think of myself as like you can do the whole thing next year , bro . I was like let's go .

Jeff Roberts 16:41

I'm not scared of him to have my job . Like I'm not going to have the job forever . Like nothing intimidates me . And I'm like bro come run this thing ?

Rhett 16:55

Which is only expanding your capacity on taking on the next with what's next . I hope , especially young people coming up and young leaders hear the open handedness in this conversation . I mean , this is again an overflow of who you are the security you know , but the ability to be open-handed and it's amazing when you're open-handed . You know and I'll throw props to Craig Rochelle for saying this . He probably didn't make it up , but it was one of these things you can either have control or growth .

Rhett 17:16

You can't have both , and so if you want control , you're not going to grow , that's good , right , but if , but , if you're open handed and you're willing to let things go and allow people to to to fail in a healthy way and to grow from it and to have these you know connections . Sorry , you threw me off on that . You don't want to know what he just did .

Building a Healthy Company Culture

Justin 17:36

So I declined it .

Rhett 17:36

by the way , so you can have control or you can have growth . You can't have both and you've got a lot of leaders who think they just want to control things , because they want to do things the way like it has to get done , the way I do it . And if you don't do it the way I'm doing it , well then you know you're not going to fit within this organization . Or you can have this open handedness to allow people and empower them . They may not do it the exact way , sure , and they won't , and they won't , but could trying to hold on to it . And so if you're young and listening to this , just the open handedness and the ability to just give things away and to have honest conversations . Back to the conflict , how to have healthy conflict and both parties know , hey , I'm for you and the reason we're having this conversation is because I believe in you and I believe the best in you , and so this may be a hard conversation at first but once we get through that it's going to be great , right .

Rhett 18:32

So I'm curious when it comes to handling conflict , give me an example of like how are you teaching your teams to be , because you know , millennial generation , whatever the next one is , you know , unfortunately not how many of them had a lot of parents or the ability to be taught how to have conflict ?

Jeff Roberts 18:52

Sure , so how are you teaching people how to have conflict in a healthy way ? What does that look like ? The cool thing is is we don't have to reinvent the wheel , like Pat Lencioni already has this done . So we just go through that material . We kind of customized it for yellow hammer , that's right . But we just run through the material and some people are so uncomfortable , especially when you get to that point where it's like , hey , here's what I really like about you and here's what I really don't like about you .

Jeff Roberts 19:11

Right , everyone's fearful of that . You have to do it for everyone . I mean , I had one of my managers tell me um , one of the things she didn't like was I was always negative and I was like , oh , she's probably right , you negative , and I was like , oh , she's probably right , you know , and so so it's balancing what ? But I see it as being more vulnerable , right . So what I see as a vulnerability she sees as Jeff's just always negative , right , and I was like man . So I need to readjust a little bit the way I lead , lead a little more positive , but still be vulnerable .

Wes Hampton 19:40

And so it's a micro adjustment , it wasn't like a macro .

Jeff Roberts 19:43

I didn't have to like do a 180 , I just needed to dial it in a little bit , you know , and so it's just stuff like that . But there's a material that we literally go through . The whole thing takes a couple hours , yeah , and but but every time that we've done one of those , everyone at the end is like high-fiving . They're like dude , let's go out to eat after this and we're just hanging . I mean , we did it with our executive team . We were riding those bird scooters or whatever .

Jeff Roberts 20:03

We were up on the top of the hotel , you know , just riding around just having fun crawling downtown .

Rhett 20:08

And I know that's one of the reason people want to work for you . But at the same time , I'm sure that the as healthy as it is in your very , you have your culture . This is who we are . So it's probably not easy to work with . If you're not willing to fit into that , sure . But what's the secret sauce to the hiring process ? I'm sure you have all the paperwork and all the yada yada stuff , but if there is a secret to you hiring a good employee because if I think you're doing it great , I mean young adults , I mean they're having the time of their life and they're learning so much they want to be a part of your organization . But how do you filter through ? Is there a secret sauce of something special that you guys do and would you be willing to share ?

Jeff Roberts 20:44

that Absolutely .

Rhett 20:45

To give that away .

Jeff Roberts 20:46

It's already been done . It's so easy , you don't even have to . There's so much , you don't have to reinvent you . Look at the best Walt Disney . Disney says we hire friendly people and we make them Disney people . That's it . So at Yellowhammer , we hire friendly people and we make them Yellowhammer people , it people and we make them yellow hammer people . It's good , it's so it's so simple .

Rhett 21:04

It's really not rocket science . I'm pushing back a little bit . People can put on . People tend to be friendly . They can in a matter of that moment . So how do you ? Okay , oh , bro , my managers , how ?

Jeff Roberts 21:16

do you see through it ? Is there a way to push those buttons ? Well , you can't see through it in an interview . Okay , We've had phenomenal interviews and then they get hired and our managers go oh my gosh , like they did not . This is not what I saw .

Jeff Roberts 21:31

It's very easy , it's part of the process . It's part of the process . So , as they're running through the , the now very structured training program , they're just like hey , like we're not cutting it in a lot of customer interaction , friend interaction , team interaction , all that stuff that's built in there . So it's very easy to be like dude , you're not , you're just not hitting the level , Right . And so we , we are not afraid at all to just be like I don't think this is working for you and we still think we believe in the best for everyone . Just because you're not a yellow hammer person does not mean you're a bad person . There is something specific for you that you're going to love a lot better and we're going to love a lot better , Right . So we're not scared at all to just say I don't think this works for you , Like , we have those conversations all the time , but you know we don't let them go immediately . We're like hey , can you work on this ? Can you work on that ? Can you do this , or do you just hate it ?

Wes Hampton 22:12

And if they're ?

Jeff Roberts 22:12

like I just hate it . Bro , all good Love you Always here for you . Come in here anytime . I don't think this works .

Rhett 22:18

So , jeff , I think it's interesting that , how well you take care of your employees who are working for you . But I have noticed and this is crazy , it goes against the status quo and the normal but you guys actually celebrate in a healthy way People who have served you guys for , whether three , six , nine months a year , whatever it looks like . You actually even take the time to post and thank them for their time and their service with you guys . So speak to me on the whole culture of when employees who are highly valued end up leaving the company .

Jeff Roberts 22:47

So man , a lot of this comes out of hurt , it comes out of pain , it comes out of really bad experiences , right , and I know you've , you , know you , you , you've seen this , and so we've both experienced , we've both experienced .

Jeff Roberts 22:59

So I've left an organization hugged , you know , told all his family , family , you know , before I get out of the parking lot it was deleted , blocked on social media , phone numbers deleted ,

Celebrating Departures and Building Bridges

Jeff Roberts 23:09

you know , all that stuff . And I just remember thinking like man , this didn't have to be this way . Like this , there's no need for any of this . Like man , this is so crazy .

Jeff Roberts 23:18

Like , yeah and so we , we have two walls that we talk about a lot in yellow hammer we have the wall of fame and we have the wall of shame , right . And so I just felt like I was thrown over on the wall of shame . If you're not with us , you're against us , and that's not true , right . And so maybe you just wanted to go do something else . And , man , how can I help , how can I celebrate that ? And so I just remember the departure was so , such a bloodbath that I was like , if I'm ever in an opportunity to ever have , you know , team members work with me I want to be so supportive of when they transition to somewhere else , right , because this is not for everybody all the time , and I totally understand that . And so I took that hurt in that pain and I flipped it on its head . And so now , when people leave us , they're not on the wall of shame , we paste their pictures over on the wall of fame , because they have put blood , sweat and tears , just like me , into this company , into this business . They have served our friends faithfully , they have taken care of our teams , they have taken care of our stores , they've taken care of so much , and we just celebrate them and I'm like , man , that's awesome , you got hired over here . That's amazing . Like we had someone leave . Uh , he used to be a Starbucks manager , came to us , managed our stores for a while and what's crazy .

Jeff Roberts 24:34

Here's what I've seen . The craziest thing is , most of the time these people come back , it blows me away . So , uh , and I'm not selfishly going hey , uh , maybe they'll come back , right , like , maybe they'll , maybe they'll give us another chance or maybe they'll come back in and what . It's never that like I don't , it doesn't matter to me if they move somewhere else . It's uh , we celebrate that and we celebrate their , their next season , we celebrate their next journey .

Jeff Roberts 24:57

But in that process , what we've seen is they get to another company and they go oh my gosh , that actually was kind of healthy and they actually kind of do . They are serious about their culture because they kind of get in that typical , you know , corporate America stuff . And so we've seen so many people come back because we did nothing but celebrate them , honor them for their time , respect them and cheer them on . I mean , we'll put them on the story of , you know , here's the new gig or here's the new job , and so it's been amazing to me that I think and if you're listening if you've dealt with a lot of hurt , you've dealt with a lot of pain , you've dealt with a lot of suffering it doesn't have to be your story . You can flip that story and say you know what , there's a better way to do it and you can implement a better way to do it , and so I , honestly , I'm more proud of just as proud of things people have transitioned into as I am of team members that have been here for six , seven years .

Rhett 25:49

Like I'm just as proud , Like I love .

Rhett 25:52

I love how . What I'm hearing you say is , you know , out of the pain , I did not want to become a victim , but I actually wanted to make a difference with that pain and use it as a learning experience so that I can help serve other people in the future . And going back to your vision , we are I'm probably saying it the wrong way , but you're a people company . First , people , people . And that's just not the friends or the customers , that's not just when you're with us , but that's in life . That's it , cause you know our vision is in life .

Jeff Roberts 26:22

Our vision is actually to enrich the lives of others . See , it's that Our mission is amazing . Coffee , unmatched service right . But our vision is bigger than that . It is to enrich the lives of others . When people leave . I want their lives just as enriched as when they were here .

Jeff Roberts 26:37

And the way to do that is , I've never blocked a phone number . I've never not taken a call from a team member that hadn't been here . I mean , I still am in a text group right now with team members that were here I'm not making this up five years ago and they're never coming back .

Justin 26:50

Yeah .

Jeff Roberts 26:51

And I'm , I still , I still hang out with them . You know what I mean . I love them Like it doesn't matter to me . You don't have to come build Jeffy's empire .

Rhett 26:58

Yeah , it's so good because a lot of companies say we want to enrich the lives of other people . But , there's a little asterisk there that's not even on the paperwork or in it , but we want to enrich the peoples of lives that are only with us during a season that they serve us and our agenda and what our kingdom building is .

Wes Hampton 27:14

Correct the . Moment you're out , well , forget you , You're dead , You're dead to me .

Rhett 27:18

Now they may not say it but that's exactly how 90% and , unfortunately , even churches . Exactly how 90% and , unfortunately , even churches . Listen , if you're a pastor , please pick up on this .

Jeff Roberts 27:26

I know we're not talking about pastoral things , but we're talking about pastoral things .

Rhett 27:30

It's so critical . I asked you one day . I said , man , do you feel like you're still doing ministry ? And your response to me was like I feel like I'm doing more ministry today than I ever did when I was in the church , because you're loving people the way Jesus loved people in a very , you know , real world environment of people in the faith we call lost meaning . You haven't , you know , professed faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior . You have all these different flavors of people working for you and they're experiencing the love , not only working for you but , even experiencing man , we're for you , no matter where you go .

Rhett 28:03

Cause you truly mean that I'm just like my friends . I hope you can pick up on this , because not only I love it , because some people leave well , some people don't leave well , and I've even heard a story you were sharing with me earlier and I don't know if you want to share this or not , but of how there can even be reconciliation with employees who don't leave well . You still honor them in a way maybe differently , but you still honor them . But even the story of how they maybe come back humbly and want to be back a part of the organization that they maybe have thrown under the bus at one point , but now they're back at your door , it has been wild .

Jeff Roberts 28:36

It's the coolest thing to see , because whether they come back , whether they don't , it doesn't matter , and it's been so .

Jeff Roberts 28:42

it's just been validating for us to see how many people will end up coming back , Like it's been , and we've had people quit multiple times . Always welcome back and we celebrate them every time they leave tomorrow . Man , love you Like it's . It's awesome , Like it's . I'm so happy for what you're doing next . You've been amazing . Thank you so much . And it's just the doors never shut with us and we're not easily offendable , as I was telling you , you know you can .

Jeff Roberts 29:06

you can dump on us on the way out . You can hate the way we do things . Totally fine , still love you . You know we're never doors always open .

Justin 29:13

That's right , you keep a bridge .

Jeff Roberts 29:14

We always keep a bridge . Well , I'm never . The dumbest thing you could ever do would be to burn a bridge . Yeah , I've Like that is the stupidest strategy ever .

Rhett 29:24

Because relationships are everything . It's everything . It's not just when you're with us , I mean life is long .

Justin 29:29

It's a long game and you'll never know when you might need that relationship again . Yeah , we think we can predict the future and we have zero clue who will come back into our life and could be such a major role .

Rhett 29:40

Yeah , it's so true . I think pride comes before a fall , and you know that you're walking in pride when you have the arrogance to think that I don't need you .

Jeff Roberts 29:52

You know I can find somebody else that will fit this and keep moving my ball forward . When people leave or even work with us in our organization , I always always think to myself that could be my boss one day .

Rhett 30:02

Hey , armchair , authentic friends and family . It's Rhett here , listen . You know , justin and I talk a lot about community passion and doing what you love , and that's exactly why we're so excited to have Jeff , the CEO and co-founder of Yellowhammer Coffee , in the studio today . And not only that Yellowhammer Coffee truly is one of our absolute favorite coffees .

Justin 30:25

Yeah , yellowhammer Coffee isn't just about amazing coffee , it's about people . And here's the thing Even if you're not local like me and Red , you can still enjoy their award-winning coffee . With an online subscription , you can have their fresh roasted beans delivered to your door weekly , bi-weekly or monthly , exactly .

Rhett 30:45

And for those of you who are lucky enough to be local , you can swing by one of their seven drive-thru locations today and grab your favorite brew . Listen , whether it's that Beats Bomb Frappe or one of their seasonal slammers like the Surf's Up . It's quick , it's easy and , trust me , it is totally worth it .

Justin 31:03

And let's not forget , they've got a national award-winning coffee roaster , so you know every cup is crafted with quality and care .

Rhett 31:11

So , whether you're ordering online from afar or driving through in Mobile , yellowhammer Coffee's got you covered . Now here's what I want to encourage you to do Go to yellowhammercoffeecom that's yellowhammercoffeecom , and get ready to fly high and hammer down with Yellow Hammer Coffee .

Justin 31:31

Yeah , grab your cup and become part of the hashtag . Yell , ham , fam . And remember , tell them Rhett and Justin , from Armchair Authentic , sent you when people leave or even work with us in our organization .

Jeff Roberts 31:46

I always , always think to myself that could be my boss one day .

Justin 31:50

So good , it's such a good thing , to think .

Jeff Roberts 31:52

Richard , richard could be my boss one day . Yeah , richard , if you're not , you're not here in the room , he's our , he's our pilot and barista . Yes , so Richard could be my boss one day . So I always treat one of our baristas . Could be my boss one day , because life is long , like you guys were saying you can't predict the future .

Jeff Roberts 32:12

I just hope , if they're my boss , we're going to say , man , that guy was so fair to me , that guy treated me with honor and respect , um , so that's that's why I would never threaten someone . I would never threaten someone with with a term like hey man , make sure check yourself , cause , man , I'm more influential than you , right ? What if one of my baristas I mean , there's some , some of our baristas have millions of followers ?

Jeff Roberts 32:35

on TikTok and stuff , I'm not messing Right , so I'm like you might be my boss one day . You know your platform's pretty big , like I'm not going to be like you don't have platforms , the best you know they're killing us , you know . So I'm always careful with that phrasing and I never act like I mean life's too long .

Rhett 32:52

So when it comes I know it's probably too I don't think it's ever too soon to think about um . What's the technical word when you pass the baton in a business ? The , the succession plan , if you will . Um , it's never too early to think about that . But I also think you're still young and so you might not be thinking about it .

Jeff Roberts 33:09

You might think about it all the time .

Rhett 33:10

So how do you maintain ? How do you ? You know , I think Walt Disney you've mentioned that earlier like Walt Disney , the thing that made it special was the way the environments and the culture that he carried with Disney and people argue whether it's still like it was or if it's changed . Whatever the magic's gone or the magic's there . You know , I could care less , but when it comes to yellow hammer and the culture in in the love and the compassion and the people first , what are you doing to ensure that that continues to go down the field when you pass the baton and somebody succeeds you , whether it is the barista or whoever it might be , and , uh , you know , for the generations to come , what are you doing to set ?

Jeff Roberts 33:45

that up . It's really putting it's . The stuff we've done this year is putting everything in writing . It's it's the , the training is the teaching is the coaching

Scaling and Strategic Business Growth

Jeff Roberts 33:53

. But it might not always be like this , and I have to think about that too . We get bought out by private equity . We get bought out by investors . They may just flip it to be the next Dutch bros or seven brew , right , and so I kind of have to be okay with that too , and I kind of hate that . Yeah , so that's the part where we don't franchise right now . We don't do private equity , we don't do any of that stuff . Um , cause , cause , I liked the way we're running it .

Justin 34:15

Right .

Jeff Roberts 34:15

In 20 years ? Yeah , I don't know Right , but if we're still a hundred percent in control , we're going to run it the way we've been running it . It's going to be concise , it's going to have everyone's going to know what to do . You know , and even the next guy that runs it , if we're still controlling it , he's going to run it , probably better than I'm running it , right , and so , um , but but I do think about this a lot , because I'm like man private equity calls and I'm like , oh , do you have ?

Rhett 34:38

I mean , what's in the future for you ? Right now I be , I don't know , challenging as far as the logistics . We outgrew it , you outgrew it and now you're moving to a new facility for that location . But what's ? What's on the horizon If we're thinking down five , 10 years from now ? What's going through the mind of Jeff Roberts and Mo with the future of Yellowhammer ?

Jeff Roberts 34:59

I really like for my goal to be at least a hundred stores . If we really got hot , we could do a couple of hundred . And then at that point I get calls every day from New York , like every single day it'll be hey man , here's the number , here's the number , here's the number . Like let us like how can we play ball ? Yeah , so I don't really know , like I , I don't have the clear . Like a hundred stores would be cool .

Rhett 35:20

Um , is that just in the state of Alabama , the Southeast ? What are you thinking ?

Jeff Roberts 35:23

thinking we'd probably move out southeast , so we'd go mississippi , we'd go florida , we'd go georgia , we'd go north alabama , probably tennessee . Um , there's multiple ways to get there so we can just keep mom and pop in it the way we're doing now . Nothing wrong with that . Uh , foo sackley's is a great example . Yeah , that guy does not franchise and he likes having control and he runs a great unit right , so we can keep doing that . Uh , we could franchise , uh pros and cons there , or we could go private equity or just get a private investor Right , and so there's multiple ways to scale it . I mean we could have 100 stores next year if we wanted to , right , it just wouldn't be the way that we're running it now .

Jeff Roberts 35:57

Yeah , right so that's always the like .

Rhett 35:59

The process has to change . Yeah , I'm like ugh .

Jeff Roberts 36:01

So , it's's challenging , though , when you're in my seat you're like how do you get to that goal ? And there's multiple ways to do it .

Justin 36:08

Well , it's a good start . With your fellow who says he wants to process authenticity , I mean he's creating some processes that can even help scale , correct , potentially , what you're wanting to do .

Jeff Roberts 36:18

So every time I talk to Sam , he , he , that's the word he uses . He says everything I do , I think about will this scale ? Yeah , and I'm like man . So if we franchise , we have a scalable model . Here's exactly how to speak to a friend . Here's exactly how your team members interact . You guys have a problem ? Here's exactly how to run through the conflict . Right , so we do have something that scales , and we get emails all the time about franchising man I had one from pennsylvania the other day , had one from north carolina .

Jeff Roberts 36:43

I want to do 15 or 20 stores . Had one from Tennessee . We get them from around the Gulf coast . Are you guys franchising ? Would you be interested ?

Jeff Roberts 36:51

Um , yeah , so I mean , we , we get them now and it's like pros and cons , right , because they take the debt load on , which is amazing , but then you lose a little bit . You might lose a little bit of that culture , and it's one of the reasons that I that I got into airplanes , cause if we do do that , I need to be able to move my executive team quickly , right , so we have 15 stores burning down in Tennessee . Hey , sam , I need you on the plane , like today , right , yeah , no problem , and you'll be back for dinner with your wife , you know . And so I do try to play . So , uh , my friend will , jeff plays chess , not checkers , and I'm like that's kind of true , like I don't just think about the next move , I think about the next eight moves . Right , so I'm getting into aviation more .

Jeff Roberts 37:32

We're vetting kind of the best process to grow this company in the in the healthiest way we can , and I just try to line things up Right . So I like I'm doing things on the , on the backend , like I mean , we go straight to . We used to have a middleman , so most cups , you know , if you , if you enjoy a cup of coffee anywhere really in America , your cups are probably made in China . They're just set up for it , they know how to print they , they're just really good at it , and so we used to have a middleman that went there Right . But I had a relationship because it's all about relationships in Oregon , of all places that connected me direct to China . So now we go direct for all our cups , right , and that saved us 50% .

Wes Hampton 38:09

Wow .

Jeff Roberts 38:10

So what we used to spend $100,000 on , we now spend $50,000 for and get the same amount right . So we are on the back end , we're doing a bunch of things distribution-wise . We're doing direct deals with like Red Bull , direct deals with a lot of like Tarani , like stuff like that . We're getting into um , like the maintenance side . So you know , we're maintenancing , like like I see multiple companies kind of coming out of it like a distribution company and also like a maintenance company , right . So I've got a guy right now certified in maintenance so he could go to Starbucks , he could go to any local coffee shop and he can maintain their machine , and so I see a business in that . And so that's what will means .

Jeff Roberts 38:45

Like I'm not just thinking about how does yellow hammer get another store ? There's like no , there's distribution to be done there's , there's a movement to be done , there's warehouses to be rented and we have a couple of box trucks and we have . We just we have a forklift . Now I mean it's crazy , that's crazy . No one thinks about that on the back end . It took to run the company in a small cardboard box from UPS and that would last me an entire week . Now we get 18 wheelers driving in and we're unloading pallets after pallets with a forklift and we have a distribution for all of that and it's crazy Like the back end side , no one thinks about it . Everyone's like , yeah , coffee truck sounds fun . Yeah , man , it takes a lot

Taking the Leap - Pursuing Dreams

Jeff Roberts 39:22

to get that done .

Rhett 39:22

So here I'm thinking of a couple of things . Uh , first of all , do you still do the coffee truck or the trailer , or is that a , uh , a memento of the past ? You have that like in a museum somewhere at the bank off to the side . It's like this is where we got started . Or are you still keeping that trend of doing more trailers ? Or now are you just straight brick and mortar ?

Jeff Roberts 39:49

So it's a . It's a funny story . When I first started , I never wanted to do brick and mortar . I didn't want the rent , I didn't want the overhead , I didn't want the headaches . I was just like we're going to stick to mobile and that's it . And so , funny enough , Will Fusiati , the founder of Fusaclis if you're anywhere in Mobile , you will know they are the king undisputed . They're amazing , Right and now they're . I think they're up here . Are they in Birmingham ?

Rhett 40:02

yet no . Birmingham , yet no . I wish , I wish if you know that .

Wes Hampton 40:04

But please tell them to come he was texting me .

Jeff Roberts 40:06

He needs to come to moody right here because nobody loves zack's at all right , I mean down between the buckies and the atlanta traffic on 20 .

Rhett 40:14

I mean , I'm telling you man , he would do well it's amazing .

Justin 40:16

We we're preparing the way is our authentic for you to come , even in the place we're located , so exactly as we'll do the same thing we can we can hook and do a double you know , yeah , let's do it .

Jeff Roberts 40:26

So he called me and said and he's kind of my hero , he's like my local hero , he's been that way for you .

Rhett 40:31

I don't ever forget visiting Mobile , coming on staff there being in there , You're like , oh man , you got to try this .

Wes Hampton 40:36

This is the best place to be the chicken's great but the process is amazing .

Rhett 40:40

a good he's a really , because you're gonna get the same experience everywhere you go . Where ?

Jeff Roberts 40:45

you go , it will be exactly exactly and so , uh , I just there's just no way to meet this guy like he's very behind the scenes , like you'll never , you'll never meet him , you'll never talk to him . He's very . He's like I'll call him the ghost of mobile . You'll never like people that want to meet him . Like good luck dude . So he calls me out of nowhere , answer my phone . He's . He's like hey man , it's Will Fusiotti , and I was like I almost I thought it was getting pranked by a buddy .

Wes Hampton 41:09

I was like yeah , right , I was like seriously , you know like who is this ?

Jeff Roberts 41:13

And I'm glad I didn't do that , cause I was like , hey man , what's going on ? He goes hey , I've been watching you for a couple of years . I think I've got an opportunity for you have a brick and mortar . And I'll never forget I was like I don't want that . I was like I don't want to do a brick and mortar , I'm not interested , whatever . In a very nice way he did not say this , but this is the interpretation he said hey , stop being an idiot and learn how to do a brick and mortar .

Jeff Roberts 41:35

And he said it very nicely yeah , you know , it was kind of like oh jeff , I think you'd have some opportunity but , so anyway , I was like , well , will the smartest guy mobile thinks it's a good idea , maybe I should look at it .

Rhett 41:43

So he's the one that got us into that first dolphin street location which was a few sackles before , which was a few sackles before , and he still controlled the ground lease .

Jeff Roberts 41:51

And so he wanted someone who he knew was going to be headache free , and that's why he'd been watching me for years . He was like this guy's going to grow in , this guy's responsible .

Rhett 42:10

And .

Justin 42:10

I'm never going to have a .

Jeff Roberts 42:11

This is a nightmare in the generator maintenance and gray water and fresh water and all that stuff . And so he so I really give him a lot of credit and he is also the one that called me and said you need to buy that bank and turn it into a coffee shop that bank and turn it into a coffee shop . And again I was like I didn't even question it . I just called my banker and said , hey , I need a loan to buy a bank . And he was like you get in the banking ? I was like no , I just need it for a coffee he's like .

Jeff Roberts 42:32

Oh yeah , we can run that .

Jeff Roberts 42:33

So I credit Will with a lot for how we've grown and so and he's a mentor that I have not asked for , he's a mentor he would like I'm a business guy and I get things done , you know , but he's really mentored me in a way , kind of from a distance that , like , I'll always be grateful for , because man and I told him that I said , dude , I would . We would not even be close to where we're at If you hadn't called me one day and just said you should try a brick and mortar .

Rhett 42:57

So what do you say to the young leader ? Or maybe it doesn't have to be young . I mean , I'm in my forties and I still feel young , so age is irrelevant .

Justin 43:05

Anybody listening ?

Rhett 43:06

But anybody listening ? What do you say to that person who's in a very , let's say , comfortable position and is miserable and has a dream and they want to implement that dream but they can't ? It's like I need that sign . I need to be able to take that step into no man's land and just take a step of faith and take a risk and , you know , throw all my eggs , if you will , in one basket and and see this dream come to fruition and grow it . Like , what do you say to that person who's sitting on the fence ? And they're nine to five , if you will going , man , I've got this dream . God , I'm hearing this , I'm inspired . I feel like I could do this and I don't know how to do it , but like I feel like I need that little nudge to get out

Taking the Leap

Rhett 43:45

and go do it . What do you say to that person ?

Jeff Roberts 43:46

right , now it's time to jump . It's literally if you've ever gone skydiving and I have have you guys ever jumped ? Yeah , I have . So you know , our audience knows I have not .

Justin 43:57

This guy you need to go . Hey , let me , let me .

Rhett 43:59

Let me just tell you along that line , right there we were talking earlier . We're driving . You know I had mentioned maybe Jeff will take us up in the plane or something . He's like I'm good , I'm good .

Justin 44:08

I said if we drive him back to his plane , and he says hey , you want to jump up in the plane real quick and just fly around Birmingham .

Rhett 44:17

I was like Rhett .

Justin 44:18

I'm going to go in decline because it's not on mission . So all to say and I'm like dude it's safer than Delta . Come on , man it kind of is it really is .

Rhett 44:26

If the engine goes out , you've got plenty of room to land and float down . But I say all that to say he is not that kind of risk taker and . I'm that person . So , yeah , I jumped out of a plane .

Wes Hampton 44:36

When .

Rhett 44:36

I turned 21, . That was the thing I did on my 21st birthday , me too .

Jeff Roberts 44:45

I literally went and on my back baby , let's go . We just high-fived , we both jumped on our first bird .

Rhett 44:50

Yeah , me too . That was my thing . That was my thing too , so we're a lot alike in that regard .

Jeff Roberts 44:53

I didn't go out and get trashed at the bar ? No , I've never .

Justin 45:00

It was way more fun .

Rhett 45:01

I dragged and we did it together . But I didn't do it by myself , had a Marine on my back . I was smart enough to know . If I want to do this , I'm going to have somebody go with me . Yeah . So all that to say , yeah , I like , I like that reference , just jump , just jump .

Jeff Roberts 45:13

But you know the feeling when you're in the airplane you're scared , you're horrified , you're like I can't do this . I can't do this . I can the dumbest thing I've ever .

Jeff Roberts 45:23

This is so stupid and then you start telling yourself I'm just , I'm not doing this , I'm gonna stay in the plane and just it was , this is a bad idea , bad decision , this is we're not doing it right . And then the guys start talking and say , oh , you want to jump . And you're like what do you mean ? I want to jump , you don't want to fly down with this pilot because once they're out , he is diving it , he , trust me , you will be , you will be regretting that you stayed in the airplane . It's better if you jump and he's not kidding , he's serious .

Rhett 45:48

They dive , bomb that thing as fast as they can . Back to the ground . They beat you to the ground .

Jeff Roberts 45:51

Yeah , they did the planes landed before you hit the ground . Yeah , so then you're stuck between a rock and a hard place . You're like I just okay , I got to just suck it up . So I remember almost black jump game over Right .

Rhett 46:03

There's just a peace and a calm that comes over you and you're like this is amazing , like I , I can't believe I was scared of this Right and so well for me the first 30 seconds before the shoot open I was a little freaking out Like once the parachute open , I was like , oh , this is beautiful , oh , we're good , I'm going to live today .

Jeff Roberts 46:20

But it's amazing . Did the guy adjust your straps after he pulled that ?

Rhett 46:23

I don't know , I can't remember . I just kind of blacked out for that moment .

Jeff Roberts 46:26

So the guy after we pulled it and I'm like oh wow , I'm safe he adjusted my straps to drop me down a little bit and I was like whoa bro , what you doing ?

Rhett 46:33

What you doing Like . No , no , no , no .

Jeff Roberts 46:36

I'm good . I'm good , I'm good being . I was like hey man , he didn't do that .

Rhett 46:43

He did tell me . He said hey man , you know I appreciate you jumping the day because if the shoe doesn't open , at least I've got some cushion .

Jeff Roberts 46:49

We're good . Yeah , he said , I'm good , I'm good , he's like I don't know about you , but you'll hit the trees first .

Rhett 46:54

But it was amazing when that door opened on the plane and you're , and you're stepping out , you're like's the most exhilarating , most adrenaline , like highest of highs , but all dude , I literally crashed like I had so much adrenaline rush through me . I don't know if this was for you , but like I ate lunch , I went home and I slept for like six hours wow , because I was all wasted after that , you know I was like oh my gosh .

Jeff Roberts 47:21

So if you want that experience , and then he told a lot of his friends after he's like dude , I'm so wasted yeah bro , you're 21, .

Rhett 47:27

Bro , I know what you're doing . It's a different way of saying it , that's right .

Justin 47:32

So symbolically you would jump .

Rhett 47:35

So if you're listening , today you're just saying just do it .

Justin 47:42

So if you're listening , you don't want to play it safe . Symbolically he's saying jump today .

Jeff Roberts 47:48

You got to take the jump . Don't have a plan B and go all in . If you have a plan B , you're going to take it . So I refuse to have a plan B . It kind of makes me I would be insanely rich right now If there was a plan B .

Jeff Roberts 48:02

I had lined up I was going to be a partner of a technology firm , and so , and he threw me that about a year after we started and , um , I can share the story . So , uh , I was going to have to fly to New York maybe twice a month , go up there and cause he wanted my marketing skills , he was like man , I can't believe what you're doing over on this side with no money . He's like this is insane . I need you over here on the technology side . And so you actually know this company . I won't say their name , but I'll tell you later . So so I had to make a decision and it didn't take me very long . I was like I can't do this , like if I do this , I will not do what I'm doing now and it this , this dream will die , but I will be . So right now , their company's evaluated for about $70 million and I think the deal was going to be , I'd have 10% of that .

Jeff Roberts 48:46

So when they sell and they will . It'll be soon . I would have had whatever that is 7 million bucks in the bank Like that's insane .

Jeff Roberts 48:53

So now , when I hear that number , I'm like , oh , maybe do have a plan B . I don't know , but I knew in that moment yellow hammer would die . I would be on this , you know technology company and we'd be , we'd be moving , Right . But it's like that wasn't my dream , right , it's . My dream is not money . My dream is people building and just continuing to like , crank this thing out , you know , and so and you'd still be asking what if ? Exactly I would be .

Justin 49:19

Even with $7 million yeah , $7 million in the bank and I'd be like man what if I'd have stuck with that company ?

Jeff Roberts 49:23

I wonder how far we could have got it Right , like I wonder what we could have done and so um , so yeah , but it's it's weird that it was not that hard of a decision . I was like I just can't do this Right and so if you don't have a plan B , you're going to make plan a , work in whatever that takes . And it's blood had this video footage . I was literally coming home . We didn't sell coffee , it was . So I'm drenched and I'm cold and I'm angry . I'm mad at the weather . I'm literally in my yard throwing crap out of the trailer across my yard , screaming at the top of my lungs .

Jeff Roberts 50:07

I can't repeat what I was screaming , but I was very mad at the rain and I just kept saying you , rain you know , like I'm so angry and like that's part of the process , that's part of entrepreneurship , that is part of like we made no money and like couldn't make payroll , couldn't make anything work , Couldn't because you had to have the sales to to make this thing , Couldn't pay for the diesel and the generator , Couldn't put gas in the truck . And so a lot of blood , sweat and tears . It's going to be harder than you think , but it's going to be worth it , probably more than you think you know , and so that's just the advice I would give anybody like comfort is a killer , right ?

Jeff Roberts 50:52

So if you are you mentioned that word if you're comfortable in a nine-to-five , that's a killer . I got so uncomfortable in where I was , where I was at , that I knew I had to get out it . Just , discomfort will drive change , discomfort drives everything right . And so , yeah , don't let comfort kill you . If you really do have a dream , you can make this thing work , and especially in this age , in this economy , with this technology , with the tools we have at our disposal . Like it's not , it's not impossible to do .

Rhett 51:11

Yeah , so what I'm hearing you say is don't get comfortable in the comfortable . Be willing to step in the discomfort and be comfortable in the discomfort , pushing towards something that's that that's going to outlive you and that you're going to love and you're're going to be passionate about , and that you're going to enjoy and hate at the same time Absolutely .

Jeff Roberts 51:28

There will be moments of hate .

Wes Hampton 51:30

I mean because you share that moment you know , of just throwing .

Rhett 51:34

I'm putting myself in that situation and that's a sexy story looking back , but in that moment it's like you're just , you're exhausted . You know you're at this complete wit's end . You're complete wits in . You're throwing everything out that you've invested money in . You're frustrated and you're like I'm done , yeah , and you're letting all that out , which is great , all of it , which is great . A lot of people hold that in which I think , kudos to you . You're being willing to just let it all out .

Jeff Roberts 51:55

I wish I had the footage , because you know , funniest thing now seeing me throw chairs , but I can just see you like in the midst of that mo coming out throwing her arm around you and be like it's gonna be okay like I could see that happening .

Rhett 52:06

It's not gonna rain next week .

Jeff Roberts 52:07

Yeah , it'll be okay .

Rhett 52:08

That's right , this is a season fun fact I just think it's fun fact people think well , you know , mobile rain , whatever it is the rainiest city in the united states of america it rains all the time people like no , no , no , seattle .

Jeff Roberts 52:20

It's like no seattle gets more days of rain , but mobile gets more rain fall like seven eight , nine , 10 feet of rain a year . Feet probably inches but oh , no feet , yeah , and so it's insane amount of rain , so I could man .

Rhett 52:37

hats off to you , man , for your grit , for your grind

Journey of Encouragement and Growth

Rhett 52:40

.

Justin 52:40

Yeah , and . But I would even add to what you just said , I think , a key word . We've talked about it before . When I coach a lot of individuals , I use something I just call the maps framework .

Justin 52:49

And it's this whole mindset of there's a motivation . Clearly the coffee company in this situation with Yellowhammer . There's the advisement that you're going through . You're getting some kind of advisement , guidance from somebody Sure , hopefully you're not on an Island , it might be your spouse but there's some level of you're not um , by yourself in this . But then , uh for P , it's like there's gotta be peace , yeah , there's still gotta be at that inner peace which is not conditional , it's not based on comfort or anything , but there's that sense of I just know we're supposed to do this . And then S you take your steps . So motivation , advisement , peace steps . It's not guaranteed based on you're going to get something by taking the step , but there's just that in my situations , you know I mean it would be many other podcasts to even get into , but there are four critical life defining moments I can remember me and my wife took , and even using that kind of framework , peace was always the big part of it .

Jeff Roberts 53:53

It really is .

Justin 53:53

And what I've learned , even getting to hear you say this peace does not usually like . Predicate the fact that it's a comfortable situation , right , and sometimes it is . That's always fun because it doesn't take as much faith , sure , but when you actually have a peace to step into something , it doesn't mean that you're guaranteed that it's going to work out what you're saying is there can be peace and discomfort .

Jeff Roberts 54:14

Big time it's funny , I didn't have that framework , but everything you just said is 100% what we did .

Justin 54:20

Yeah .

Jeff Roberts 54:22

Like it's , it's pretty wild hearing that Like I'm looking back and I'm like that's exactly what we did I wish I had you as my coach , cause here's the process . It helped me a lot , you know .

Justin 54:29

Well , sometimes you don't like . I remember declining something one time and it went against the grain of of many , many people , but I remember sending the email , cause that was what I had to do to officially decline . And I still remember it was a Mac book I was using . So , it made like that sound and like there it goes and . I just knew there was peace .

Justin 54:50

I didn't get the feeling of like oh , but it was a piece to make the move and when I hit send once I heard that sound . It was a done deal . Wow , then peace . That passes . All understanding . I got to receive the feeling of it . That's cool , but I wouldn't have got it until I was actually taking that step , Wow . And so when I hear your story , I'm over here just thinking , yes , you being in the yard throwing stuff , yeah , to me it's like that's part of it , kind of the tantrum that we go through . That's part of the process , because we're not perfect and God is working through us in our journeys through these parts . It's like Rhett , you're talking about the therapy having to go through when you're at your wits end , of planting a church and having a church . I mean , that's just part of the process . It's not like we lost . If you're listening , you've not lost . If you face one of those moments , it's how do you respond when you're in that moment and what happened after ?

Jeff Roberts 55:51

Yeah , you respond .

Justin 55:52

By throwing chairs , you respond by throwing chairs , but you actually hung in there and your wife which is the whole part of her coming there and consoling you on this and letting you know , hey , we got this , it's going to be okay .

Justin 56:06

You guys who've been there you know what that means . When you have your most trusted person , whether it's a spouse , a best friend , a mentor , when they put their hand on your shoulder and say it's going to be okay , sure , that's the most valuable feedback you can get , to give you that strength to keep going .

Rhett 56:23

So , jeff , it's been great having you here in my house in the studio . Thank you so much for taking the time to come up all the way from Mobile to hang out . It's just been .

Wes Hampton 56:32

It's been therapeutic for me to get to hang out with a good friend , Um but I want to give you the moment and give you the floor .

Rhett 56:37

Are there any final thoughts ? Anything you want to say , share about Yellowhammer or this experience or anything . Anything you want to say .

Jeff Roberts 56:44

Just always be a learner , always be learning , always be as you lead , always learn , always have humility , be consistent who you are , be secure in who you are . And yeah , if you're going to jump , jump and you'll be amazed at when you jump how many people will be around you and they will guide you .

Jeff Roberts 57:01

I like it's like the universe just does it , you know God just does it right , so you jump out with this crazy idea and then you're just brought like the right people at the right time and it's just it's . It's been wild , you know , but man , thank you guys . So this has been so much fun . This got me out of the office , it's got me out of mobile , that's got me out of the stress and everything it takes to run it . So I've had a really good time and congrats to you guys . I mean , this podcast is amazing Almost 40 , or we're at 40 , episodes . That takes dedication , time consistency . I know what it takes to do a podcast . We did three and then we quit .

Rhett 57:32

You guys are killing it . You know , I was 40 . I'm like wow , can y'all mentor us ?

Jeff Roberts 57:36

and how to do this , but really , really appreciate you guys read , I appreciate you . One thing I do want to say I appreciate the encouragement you've given me over the years . There was one time I can't remember I was going through I think it was a lawsuit . We're going through a lawsuit . I'm scared , um , I'm horrified . They're taping up things on my door Like they're suing three people Jeffrey Roberts , monique Roberts and yellow hammer coffee . We're all going to court and I'm horrified , right , and my kids are like dad , did someone send us a Christmas card ? I'm like that ain't a Christmas card , let me tell you .

Jeff Roberts 58:05

And I just remember I was texting you and I was like Red , I'm horrified . And you were like hey , can I pray for you ? I cried , dude , like I , literally you called me and just prayed and I cried and you've just always been so encouraging and so thank you , man . It's those moments where I do want to quit and somehow we were talking that day and you're like I'm going to pray for you and that's so powerful , justin , it's great to get to know you , I know we've known each other through .

Jeff Roberts 58:28

You know a little bit in the past , but man , it's been awesome hanging out , so thank you .

Justin 58:31

You too , man , well you're . You're an inspiring individual . I've heard your story once again from Rhett , I mean for years , but to get to meet you and to hear this , I know there's so many people who's listening to this and you're inspiring the fire out of them right now . And that's so important , and grateful for how you're leading your company . Our goal is that this is infectious to the listeners who are leading organizations right now to say , wow , if I led by that strategy , I might get better results .

Rhett 58:59

So first of all , jeff , thank you so much for that . It's an honor and that's encouraging to hear . Yeah , man , I forgot about that .

Jeff Roberts 59:05

But as you speak about , I'm like , oh , I remember that moment , something that was so small to you that you just forgot was massively impacted to me , impactful to me because I was , we were in the middle of it , man , it was like I'm probably going to lose my house , I'm probably going to lose everything , like this is you know , and in that moment you just prayed for me , you know .

Rhett 59:22

Well , I'm just returning the favor of what you guys have done for us and our family in times where you probably didn't even know . Just the invites over to your house and the laughter and the moments of just crazy , sure , of just the Robert , I mean if you've been to the Roberts , uh , you know the inner sanctum . It's just , it's a party , it's fun , it's chaotic , it's love , it's encouragement , it's joy . It's an escape , in my mind , of just of of reality , but it's in the middle of that .

Jeff Roberts 59:47

If we weren't laughing , we would be crying , so we just got to laugh at this point . What a journey .

Rhett 59:53

So , because of your investment into us , it was just , you know , you reap what you sow , and it's just just being a brother man and and that's what I've loved so much about our relationship and it means the world man . So you know it and again , I can't stress this enough Thank you for the time that you've invested . In fact , when Justin and I began to think about Armchair Authentic in the podcast , your name is at the top of the list of what we have to get that's cool , jeff , and .

Rhett 1:00:17

Mo and shout out to Monique .

Jeff Roberts 1:00:19

Yeah , she's back at home dealing with the fires . Yeah , so I was like dude we're sitting around the table .

Rhett 1:00:32

I'm like man . I don't want to understate this , but the reason yellow hammer is successful is because of the rock you have in Monique and your partner for life .

Jeff Roberts 1:00:38

Anybody , anybody that knows our business , understands like she's the real boss , like everyone knows that . Like that's not a , she is so , uh , you know she's so um she can handle so much at the same time , she's a rock man . I'm not . I'm not that way . I'm like a rabbit , you know .

Rhett 1:00:54

I'm like .

Jeff Roberts 1:00:55

I'm going here . I'm a squirrel , you know .

Rhett 1:00:56

I'm going here , I'm going there , I'm going here , so you'll make a great team . All that to say . God knew what he was doing when he put you guys together . And so shout out to Monique Monique , I hope to listen to this . We love you , we appreciate you . Thank you for investing your husband into us on this episode and , hopefully , maybe we'll come down to Mobile and be , sitting in the vault

Justin 1:01:14

for the next episode . I'm all for it . You know what If you ?

Jeff Roberts 1:01:17

guys come down , we'll block it off , you know that way it's VIP only .

Justin 1:01:20

Let's do it , we're down .

Jeff Roberts 1:01:30

So with that , find you where can people connect with Jeff or Mo and and yellow hammer . How do people follow what's going on with our websites ? Yellowhammer coffeecom , and if you're not in the mobile area and just want to try our coffee , we have a . You can order that . Uh , I brought some up today for these guys Um so you can order that .

Jeff Roberts 1:01:41

You can get on a subscription there If you would like . If it's good and you really like it , you can get on a subscription . It makes it easy . You don't have to think about it , we just ship it out . Um , and we're on social media . Yell ham coffee on any platform so that , forums so that y-e-l-h-a-m-c-o-f-f-e-e yell ham coffee . So that's on instagram , that's on facebook and we try to stay active on there . We try to stay fun .

Rhett 1:02:02

It's great so if you're listening to this in idaho or the pacific northwest , what I'm hearing you say is you can go to the website and order this coffee and have it delivered to you . That's right .

Justin 1:02:12

So , hey , 40 states , 348 cities , 15 countries , listen to this yellowhammercoffeecom . Jump on the website and get yourself a subscription to some of the greatest coffee you're going to ever enjoy .

Rhett 1:02:28

What you're doing ties to people , ties to mission . I love what you do with your local missions in your city and your community and around the world that you guys are investing into . We didn't even get into all that , but I know you do that outside of just what you do locally .

Justin 1:02:41

So , once again , yellowhammercoffeecom , get yourself a subscription , jeff , it was so great to have you on . Armchair .

Wes Hampton 1:02:48

Authentic today .

Justin 1:02:50

Take care , bud

On The Next Episode of Armchair Authentic: Wes Hampton

Justin 1:02:53

On the next episode of Armchair Authentic . We have the longest standing member of the Grammy Award winning group , gaither Vocal Band and solo artist Wes Hampton .

Wes Hampton 1:03:05

I had tried to push a solo career . It just was not happening . I would offer to go sing at churches for free . You're just calling churches ? Hey , can I just come to push a solo career ? It just was not happening . I would offer to go sing at churches for free . You're just calling churches ? Hey , can I just come to your concert ?

Wes Hampton 1:03:15

No one would respond to me , no one . And I got discouraged and I realized God was telling me hey , I don't want you to do this right now . This is not the right season . It's not the right time . As soon as I became content and where God had placed me , that's when he opened the door to the next thing .

Wes Hampton 1:03:33

so I'm saying if you're younger and you're listening to this and you're discontent . Maybe God is saying to you hey , I've got you in this place for this particular moment in time because I'm trying to teach you something or I'm trying to grow you in some area , whatever it is . You need to ask yourself , okay and ask God . Because I'm trying to teach you something or I'm trying to grow you in some area , whatever it is , you need to ask yourself , okay and ask God what is it you're trying to teach me ? So I learned contentment through that process .

Justin 1:04:02

And then that's when the audition process happened

Coffee Subscription - Yellowhammer Coffee

Justin 1:04:03

for me . We are really looking forward to that episode with Wes Hampton , but in the meantime , go and treat your taste buds to a cup of Yellow Hammer Coffee . You can order a subscription at yellowhammercoffeecom and they'll ship it straight to you . And as usual ,

Reach Out To Us: Info@ArmchairAuthentic.com

Justin 1:04:19

you can reach out to us if you have any questions or comments at info at armchairauthenticcom . Until next time , have a great week .