Small Boat, Big Impact: Brian Thompson on Building the LVP Warehouse of Asheville

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. All right. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.

0:45Today, I'm excited to be joined by Brian Thompson of the LVP Warehouse of Asheville. So, Brian, thanks for being here. Let's jump right in. How are we doing today? Good. How are you, Cliff? Doing great. Doing great. Great to have you on. So for those who may not know you yet, you know, who is Brian Thompson and what is the LVP Warehouse of Asheville? um yeah i took over the warehouse about a year ago now um it i guess to sum it up we're a local lvp which is luxury vinyl planking um more of like a supply house so a lot of we can we do retail to the to the general public but a lot of business to business um transactions so it's more of a supply house for type scenario as, as apart from a design studio or a flooring store that has hardwood and everything.

1:40So we specifically carry the luxury vinyl free float, uh, plank flooring. Okay. Okay. So take us back to the very beginning. What, what made you say, yep, I'm doing this. I'm, I'm going to go ahead and get involved with this business. yeah i mean for me it was more of a situation um driven um thing a um an acquaintance brought the opportunity to me it was uh in a time where i was looking for something else to do um and it was this is basically a franchise so the the head company is called case flooring and um it's out of the southeast locally. I was able to meet the owner. But we have about 65, I believe.

2:29Don't quote me on that, but that's very close to franchise warehouses in the U.S. now as of this year. So it's not a small company, and it's been operating for a number of years now, and it's been growing. And the acquaintance knew of the original franchise owner, one of the original guys. So he had it, he's had it for about a couple of years now. So the potential was, was easy to see there. Um, and the business, as far as the dollars and cents worked out, uh, I never saw myself as, uh, selling flooring from my background. It wouldn't be apparent, you know, very, it wouldn't be a path that would be, oh yeah, of course he's going to own a, um, LVP warehouse type store, but it worked out situationally and the numbers worked out and yeah, making a, making a go of it.

3:25And it's been great. Okay. Okay. I love it. So if you had to start again from absolute scratch, no brand, no clients, no safety net, what would you do differently the second time around? Well, I can say this specific instance, I was probably about an hour away physically and it kind of started as a side gig and I treated it as much for a little while and this once I fully turned my attention to it there was obviously like a huge leap in growth so I would say with this venture that that would be the one thing that I would change for this is to just fully turn my attention on it immediately. I guess it's pretty scary if you are working it as like a side hustle, you know, when do I cut ties and other with the safety net and go for it?

4:23I would say ASAP, as soon as you can get the confidence. So. Okay. Okay. So you were doing, so you're saying you were doing something else part-time with this part-time or Or were you working on another job? Correct. Yeah, it wasn't as well-defined as that, but I was searching other opportunities. So, yeah, I wasn't just sticking a toe in, but I thought, oh, I can do this a little bit on the side and also get some other things going. But I found it really beneficial, obviously, to concentrate on it for a – at least for a time. I really believe there's very, very few things that are passive income opportunities regardless of what you'll see on the internet or whose book or whatever they're trying to sell you.

5:21Yeah. Got to pay attention to it. It takes effort. If it was easy, everybody would do it kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah, everybody's trying to sell a book or a course now. So, yeah, I get it. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So what's a lesson you learned the hard way as a franchising owner that no one really prepares you for? I think any business is the unknown unknowns, I guess, to quote a famous. It's like the things – your equipment breaks down or the lease, the building lease. You have to talk to that guy because there's an issue or your neighbor had a problem or – it's the things – you define your business as, okay, we're selling flooring and these are going to be my issues.

6:11The things, the little things, I think any real true business owner can tell you that the day-to-day things that they – and the problems they solve can be as varied as anything on the slate. And that gets more complicated as – depending on what kind of business you have. But yeah, even my business, I don't have a lot of equipment. I don't have a ton of overhead. I try to eliminate those things as much as possible, but there are still things that are going to occur day to day that business owners don't talk about, but they have to deal with, I guess, is my answer there. Okay, okay. So what would you say is one common myth people believe about running a business that makes you laugh now?

7:04uh that it's that it's like passive income and that you've figured it out and um even when it's successful you know that you've you've reached the end and and you have um attained i guess it's it's the daily it's the daily things i think the business owner um i think the famous thing is that they have to do what everyone else will not do or does not want to do. So the buck absolutely stops with you and or your partners or whoever. So someday that can look really cool or someone, you know, taking a client out or doing whatever somebody would think would be a very glamorous part of it. And the next day you're, you're, you're, you know, the toilet overflowed in the back and the forklift broke and whatever, whatever.

7:56Being a true small business, that all falls to me, all three of those situations. Okay, so you've always got something going on. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Yeah, okay. So be honest. Are you naturally more of an entrepreneur or an employee at heart and why? It's a great question. I think in the past I've definitely been more of an employee, although dipped my toe in helping start other businesses. And now being a full entrepreneur, it's definitely a different mindset. And even if you're an employee with equity, which I think is the best type of employment, if you can get it, because then you have stake in the operation, it doesn't all fall on you.

8:44So I think the entrepreneur is just either you fake it till you make it, but you have to have a lot of self-belief. I mean, it rests, you know, you eat what you kill. Whereas if you're an employee, there's always kind of a fallback like, well, somebody else will pick the slack up or this division will do better. My division had a low quarter, but, you know, there's more safety nets there. Mm hmm. OK. OK. So how do you personally handle stepping away from the business like vacations, downtime, unplugging without everything apart? Yeah, well, I've had it for about a year, so there hasn't been a lot of that.

9:28And I would say I lean more towards work as opposed to life balance. but it's important. I do have a business partner that can help. And I think it's important to put those to guard your time for whatever may help keep that balance for you, whether it's family or your time at the gym or whatever it may be. I think you need to protect that. And it's all a balance. I think that's the most important thing. I do believe though that to be very successful at things, you have to put your life out of balance for a time.

10:13Maybe to accelerate that growth or the importance of that thing. Okay. Okay. So are you typically a person who, you know, five o 'clock, six o 'clock, I'm not sure when the store closes, but are you typically a person who just cuts off at the end of the day and leaves the job and you're good to go? Or do you take it home with you? Yeah, I mean, physically, yes. I always say I'm working if my phone's on me, any contractor who's worked with me in the past couple years or whatever. Flooring is a great product because no one can call me up and say that, you know, someone's going to die if they don't get it tonight.

10:49But you definitely want to make those efforts for people who have supported you. So, you know, if the guy wants to come pick it up tonight instead of tomorrow, I'll always say that ease of doing business is definitely one of our beliefs. I think it's in today's age, we deal with massive companies like Walmart or Amazon or these people, and they have all these rules and SOPs. But that's the advantage of a smaller business is that we can cut through those SOPs, so to speak, and make it much easier for our customer. I think that's the flexibility that – not comparing Amazon to us at any point. But if that comes across, if you get my meaning there, we can be flexible.

11:44Yeah, so if the guy calls me and he's like, man, I got to go to Greenville tomorrow and can you meet me at 7 o 'clock at the warehouse and load me and I'll bring a check. And yeah, OK, let's do it. Let's make it happen as opposed to, oh, I wish I could, but I won't be back there till eight o 'clock. And so and so has to load you and has to sign all these papers that can be, you know, we can feed that process up and make it easier for for my guys. So, yeah, no, you're you're exactly right. I mean, especially like with Walmart or like you said, Amazon. I mean, they have a way of doing business, right?

12:21So if they can't do it, they can't do it until a certain time. I mean, it is what it is. There's no getting around that. They're really big ships, and those ships take forever to turn. You know what I mean? Whereas we're very small boats, and I think that's the advantage of working with somebody local and a smaller company. You know, I'm very motivated to find a solution to whatever situation may happen. And the business definitely is important to me. So, yeah. Yeah. OK. So I know you're still, you know, relatively new at this, but, you know, I still want you to look back and what do you attribute most to your growth so far in your business?

13:02I think that kind of goes into what I just said is that the willingness to work with your customers and clients to just give energy and care about them. I think that's pretty novel just to walk into a big box store, not naming names. I mean, where do I find this? Where do I get this? We don't have that. It's three weeks out. that that's you know that's how you grow and I think word of I'm a big believer in word of mouth and you know I don't think a lot of people are buying flooring off of Instagram they may find you on there they might find you on Facebook so an advertisement gets your foot in the door but then that's just your opportunity to show both your product and your service so I think that's what that's what really um helps companies of our size grow is that personal experience yeah it's like it's like that personal touch and then when you give that personal touch they tell other people and other people tell other people so on yeah for sure yeah i mean you still have to be competitive you i don't expect people to pay a super super premium for that but i do think there's a lot of value there um that people may miss you know if they're saving uh five cents to go to the big box store, you may get a five cent saving and a million dollar headache.

14:32So I think that a lot of people can overlook that in some situations, how we kind of shop for our stuff today. Yeah. Okay. So when you're building a team or you're hiring employees, what traits matter more to you than what's on someone's resume? well i would say i don't have any employees right now um but yeah we we uh hope to grab get get one this year um i would say like i would say loyalty and honesty is probably the most um important things that you'll never see on a resume or be able to tell about a person until you've worked with them. So, um, hired some people in the past and you try to make the best decisions you can.

15:25And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think there's any much like, uh, football coaches or football players you're talking about earlier. I don't think anyone can see the future, how, how they'll work out. So, yeah. Yeah. No, no, I definitely agree. So, you know, and I know this is kind of hypothetical, but what's one thing you would do to intentionally keep your workplace positive, motivated and productive, especially during stressful seasons? I think trying to work with your employees as much as possible within that they give you their time and be flexible with you and that you as an employer are flexible as much as you can and try to work things out with them, especially in a case that they may be like a part-time employee or whatnot.

16:12So you're probably asking them to do many things that aren't numbered on some SOP sheet. So you're asking them to be flexible. So if they ask for, hey, next month, can I have these couple of days? You try to be flexible with them. Yeah. I love it. Love it. All right. So let's go ahead and get into the quickfire round. So basically what this is going to do is basically I'm going to say one word. And when I say that one word, I want you to think of the first thing or the first idea that comes to your mind when you hear each word regarding running your business. Now, your answer doesn't have to be one word.

16:49It just has to be the first idea that comes to your mind. So, all right. So first word is education. Well, it's definitely, you need to be educated about your product. So in my case, that would be the product itself. It's important to have when you don't know to say I don't know but to have a resource to go to so I have a really some really good installers I work with and some people who've been putting down this product for longer than I've been selling it so I think that's that's important to to know as in-depth about your product or process as as is possible yeah yeah okay next word is planning Yeah, I mean, you plan as well as you can for any situation, but definitely be prepared to be flexible because you're never going to think of all eventualities.

17:45Inspiration? I think this is what sets apart from your, it can set your business apart from a large, let's say, you know, a large flooring store or a large big box store that you're going to go to. No one has stock in that store that you're going to talk to that day or is trying to sell you the product. Maybe they don't even have any equity in the game. So I think inspiration and how much they're involved, that's the huge thing that a smaller to medium-sized business can put into that experience for the customer.

18:25I love that answer. That's awesome. I haven't gotten that one yet. Okay. Next one is commitment. Yeah, I would lump those two together. So, you know, that comes right along with it. So that's what we already talked about. You know, somebody, a contractor calls me at 7 p.m. Okay, can I meet you at 7.30? Or you don't have to drop your whole life, but definitely that's another, you know, I'm never going to beat Amazon on AI or automation or robotics or something like that. But if you can't beat big box companies on inspiration and commitment, then you might want to rethink your path as far as I'm concerned.

19:11Next one is discipline. Discipline? Yeah.

19:19Yeah, you know, I think that's do what you say and just say what you'll do. I think that's important to all customers as well and to keep at it. So I think an entrepreneur you were talking about is better to be an entrepreneur or an employee. Entrepreneurs have like high highs and low lows. and I think the real somebody once told me the trick is to try to keep it in the middle but it will never be in the middle so especially when you start um there'll be months where you thought think oh man this was the dumbest idea I've ever had and then there's some months where it's like oh wow this is the best and um it's important just try to try to not get too high or too low yeah risk yeah it's definitely uh the risk is high but the along with that risk the reward should um come with it right so if you're if you're taking a huge risk and getting very little reward maybe you might want to rethink some strategy or some or something like that so but that's with the high that kind of goes along with the high highs and low lows right so and the last one is execution yeah i i think right up there with planning right so that goes along with your plan and you try to execute through your plan but um things will change um oh man i remember um the flooring we have is very heavy product it changes really great quality product delivering in the ashville area in the mountains can be extremely challenging people have driveways that are not even as long as their cars and they're 45 degrees to their house and this is this is like a large material like um a lot of products so um you you just need to be flexible you try to so in that case you know if it's possible like i'll drive to the location myself and look and almost like scout out the because if you talk to everybody like oh we got plenty of room and but they don't know what kind of truck you're bringing they don't really have a a good handle on how much product it's going to be or the weight and the process.

21:29So, um, that would be the planning is to like you go and kind of site visit and see how you would do it. And then you try to execute and it doesn't always work out the way you think it will be, but, um, you try to have good guys that'll be flexible and, um, and eventually you'll get it done one way or another. So even if that means just pure manpower, which is, which is a, it's a long day, but, uh, that, you know, that could come out to what it, what it, uh, would be. So, yeah. Okay. Okay. So, and I, and I want you to be as, you know, as candid as possible on this answer here, but, you know, if, if a business owner or, you know, even if it's a smaller business owner is listening right now and feel stuck or overwhelmed, what's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear today?

22:17Uh, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I think we all have those days if you're if we're all honest with each other um i would say try not to get too high or too low um i think it's great to join like uh business groups when you can um i know i think you you guys deal with a lot of the faba people that they've been great for me um it's nice to hear other people's stories um and people that will be real with you too um it's not um i believe there's no passive income. There's no set it and forget it. I think a lot of stuff you see out there, especially on social media, are these people that we're just crushing it every day.

22:59And that's only one side of the story. They have a lot of other things to deal with too. And they had, as the most successful people had, they had dark days at some point too, in the formation or early days or even the day-to-day. So I definitely agree with that. So. All right. So what's next for the LVP warehouse? What should people be excited about? I don't I don't know. I think the next step for us is obviously we get an employee that we can offer expanded hours at the store. I would say we are mostly appointment only. It's best to contact us before you come by and we can facilitate any appointment.

23:39but being run by just a couple people. So I guess that would be a big thing for us next year is to be able to have somebody be at the showroom more and so they could show off more to retail customers, show the product off. Perhaps as we grow, I hope that the volume will continue to grow so the space becomes a concern and the logistics. that would be a great problem to have. So those are the two things that I'm looking forward to hoping to address this year. Okay, okay. And finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or learn more about what you do? Yeah, website's really great.

24:28LVP, the letters, Asheville.com. um that will give you a really great overview of our products and a way to contact uh myself um so extremely small business maybe but i can 90 guarantee that you're probably going to be talking to um me and um yeah we can set up an appointment for you guys to come look at anything you want but that's a good that's a great um way to start um we're in arden off airport road in a little business park there. So hopefully pretty conveniently located, even though the traffic can get frustrating there sometimes. But yeah, just give us time. And like I tried to mention earlier, by appointment only, I understand that that's not super convenient for everyone, but I'm very flexible.

25:19So I can't count the number of guys who come after work. So if it's 6.30 p.m. or whatever, As long as you can communicate and be there at that time of appointment, we want to be flexible for you. So I think personally from my background, I know it varies for everyone, that is more valuable for me when I was doing out and about and running and gunning than is to be open 8 to 5 when everybody else is at their helms. You know, so, yeah, LVP Asheville.com is a great place to start. Okay, okay. Any social media to see what you do? I would say start at the website. Yeah, we definitely have some Instagram presence and Facebook, but the website is probably the best place to start.

26:16And it has all the current products that we have. So like the Instagram and the Facebook, we use more as pretty much advertising for people that haven't found us yet as opposed to running deals or showing you demonstrations or whatever. But yeah, that website is probably the best resource for you. And then just get a hold of us through email or there's a phone number on the website as well. Okay. Okay. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, Brian, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your story, your perspective, and the real behind the scenes of building a business. I really appreciate you coming on today.

26:56Yeah, thanks for the invite, Cliff. Yeah, thank you very much. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com that's my personal email that i read no one else reads it first there's it's not screened it's my real email just send it to me i can't wait to talk to you hey and until then all the best