Touching Concrete

Brooke Lyle 0:04
Hi guys. Welcome back to touching concrete. My name is Brooke and my name is Layla, and today we have a super exciting episode that's been in the works for about a month and a half. So we're very excited to welcome a new guest. Yes, we

Layla Mullen 0:16
have our special guest, Scott Sorensen. I'm going to pass it over to you if you want to do a brief introduction of yourself, oh man,

Scott 0:23
yeah, you got my name, so that's good. Scott Sorensen

, I am actually a West coaster. So I was born in California, raised in Washington State, and then I made way my way over to Raleigh, like six or seven years ago. And I love the East Coast, but yeah, I'm the founder of Sodabox, and that started like, kind of COVID was the first thing. And then now we have six, if you count the stadium of eight locations, wow. So, yeah, we're blowing up pretty fast. It's exciting,

yeah. So it's been about five years, um,

with Sodabox, yeah, yeah. So 2020, was, like, we built a prototype, built, literally a shipping container box, set it down in a gravel parking lot in Apex, and just tested it out. Like, is this gonna work, or how hard is it gonna be to convince people to try us type of thing? And then we sold that, and I convinced my brother to move from Seattle. His whole family, his wife is pregnant. Wow. Like, let's build a soda company. He's like, okay, yeah. And then we opened up our first actual brick and mortar in 2021, so it's been more like three, three years. That's

Layla Mullen 1:33
awesome. Wow. For those who may not be familiar, can you kind of explain, like, what Sodabox is like? What do you guys make? What do you guys sell? Yeah, it's a

Scott 1:44
common question, because people are just like, is it just soda? And then it's like, is it your own soda, whatever, but it's, it's the markets kind of evolved. It's actually been around for like, 10 years, maybe longer 15, and it's kind of become known as dirty soda, no alcohol. Yeah, you know, but it is dirty soda shop. So we have coke Pepsi products. We have our own energy drink line. We also have, you know, Red Bull and monster and so we have normal sodas, but then we like, add a twist to them. So we'll add what we call dirty is when you never add cream, like a Dr Pepper with cream. Phenomenal. Yeah, just your basic coke with cream. Like, a dirty soda. It's incredible. Like, how much just a little twist or a fresh lime, this basics like that really, like, level up a soda, seltzers too. Like, we'll just do, like, like, literally, like, kind of, like, make your own lemonade. So you can have, like, fresh water or seltzer water basis as well. So a lot of people like to get those, because we'll put fruit in them and things like that. Kind of make your own juice, so it's all over the place, but the core product is dirty soda, which kind of, now, is you putting anything in there? Coconut, vanilla. But to us, we say, like, if someone were to say, I want a dirty Dr Pepper, we do cream. And Dr Pepper, so dirty to us, means you had cream, okay, but it really is, like, the whole category now,

Layla Mullen 3:04
yeah, absolutely. Do you have a favorite?

Scott 3:08
Oh, man, it rotates. So, like, I'm an energy drink guy. Like, I just, I probably shouldn't have this documented, but, like, two or three a day, like, for, like, since early 20s. Like, I just, my body loves caffeine. I don't know. I don't get shakes or jitters. I can, I can down a monster and then go take a nap. Like, well, I just,

Layla Mullen 3:29
yeah, right, with Mountain Dew. I was like, 10 drinking Mountain Dew, yeah, it, like,

Scott 3:33
calms me down. Like, I don't know, helps me focus. You know, it's like, it's like, soft Adderall for add people or something. I've heard, no, I'm just kidding. I don't. I'm not a doctor, so,

Brooke Lyle 3:44
but the record not medical

Scott 3:46
advice. Maybe cut that out. But no, I just I've always loved energy drinks. I don't care what brand, I always like to try all the different flavors. And then I did, I did started mixing in, like, orange juice and things like that. So I did that through college and whatnot. And then dirty sodas kind of started in Utah, where I went to school, yeah. And then when I moved out here, I was like, this is this is home base the South is Pepsi coke. Like, this is where it's born. This is soda center. So I was like, let's try dirty sodas out here, and we were so far away, and things like that. And I was like, well, let's just make our own brand. So I had been an entrepreneur. Have been for 10 years plus, and so I'm not gonna say I'm a designer, but I had a great designer friends and things like that. I can do, like mock ups and stuff like that, and they take it the next level. So designed and created our own brand, turned it into soda box, originally, because we were in a shipping container, like literally in like, literally in a box, and now we've got the six stores.

Brooke Lyle 4:46
Wow. So when you moved here, did you try try Cheerwine for the first time? Yeah.

Scott 4:52
So Cheerwine never heard of it. Didn't know what it was. In Utah, they've got, it seems like every little little region has their own thing. They have, uh. Yeah, Apple Beer, which is funny, again, not alcoholic, right? Cheerwine, not alcoholic. But, yeah, it's an apple based soda. That's regional. It's really good. But here, yeah, cheer wine, and we, I made sure to definitely have that on in this in the shipping container, we only had like, six heads, so we only hit could pick six, okay, we bought literally out of the back of a van in like Tennessee, nowhere, bought an old soda machine, well, from some guy mixed it up ourselves. Same thing with the ice machine, because finding pebble ice is really difficult,

Brooke Lyle 5:34
yeah, and you have to have public have to, must,

Scott 5:36
all right, don't even start a soda shop if you're not having pebble ice, right? Absolutely, yeah. So literally, bought both of those from like, a warehouse at some guy's farm and then the other one, and ended up trading up. I was in, I was on the beach, I was at Wilmington, and the the ice machine we had was, like, one for a house. And this guy, I'm not kidding, we, like, met him on the beach. We're hanging out. We go to this apartment, and he's got a giant pebble ice machine on the floor in his kitchen. And I'm like, What are you doing with that? He's like, Yeah, I bought it's too big. I have the same one, but smaller you want to switch? He's like, Yeah, sure. So literally, had my buddy drive his truck out. We swapped ice machines and then put that thing in the shipping container. So that was, like, kind of the inception point where it worked out. But, yeah, cheer wine was a must have on there. And I've actually we talked a little bit with them on social. I need to connect with them better, because I want to make, like, a unique drink with them, like we have on the menu right now, dirty cheer wine, and it's really good. But I wanted, like, work with them to make their own like little riff on the social people

Layla Mullen 6:38
would love that, right? People in the south love cheer wine.

Scott 6:42
Yeah, we love cheer wine for sure,

Layla Mullen 6:45
quick, kind of detour going back, what if you don't mind me asking, What college did you go to and, like, what did you major in? Like, did you know you wanted to start a business and be an entrepreneur? No,

Scott 6:57
definitely did not know what an entrepreneur was, or anything like that. I went to BYU in Utah, and I was, let's hear economics and a business minor. So I did, like, dabble in that. And then I had, like, one or two credits I had to finish in the summer, so I couldn't graduate at the end of winter. I had to take one or two. But it was like, well, crap. Well, what am I do for the summer? And a buddy of a friend of a friend was, like, an entrepreneur, or, sorry, it was a an internship. I was like, Cool, let's do a little summer internship. And this guy had started this company. I was like, the eighth or ninth employee, and it over the next four years, I think they went to $100 million they made these portable solar power battery packs and stuff. That's cool. And I they had 100 employees. They just blew right up. And I was like, watched this entrepreneur journey happen. I had like, 10 jobs all within the same company. I thought it was gonna be like a six month thing. I remember during the interview, which was like, April or something, and he's like, Yeah, I don't know if we'll be around in December. And I was like, Well, I don't, I don't need a job, this internship. I just need something to do till I graduate. But while I was at that job, my I have kind of like a marketing mentor, because I this college kid, and all of a sudden have this, like, million dollar budget. And they're like, go for it, Scott. I'm like, okay, like, spend your money. Let's figure it out. So they got, they got my mentor, and he gave me a book called Four Hour Work Week. If you guys are familiar with that, Tim Ferriss, this is, I think this is, like, honestly, like the godfather of, like, remote work and Four Hour Work Week. It blew my mind to read that book and just hear Tim Ferriss talk about, like, just hacking work, like one of the core principles that just stuck with me forever is like, Why does every job take eight hours a day? Yeah, like, that makes no sense, right? And so his idea was, like, if I can get it done in an hour, but I got the result you want, why does it need to take eight hours? That's true. So he was like, Well, what can I just, like, hyper hack. I'm going to do a 40 hour work week. I'm gonna do it in four hours. And he just tried to figure out ways to do that. He had, like, virtual assistants, went back in the day and stuff, and, yeah, that concept just ruined me. I could never have a normal job again. It was terrible.

Layla Mullen 9:11
Yeah, that's actually something I worry about, because I'm a business major, and so I have this deep rooted fear of just sitting in a desk all day, because I need to be doing stuff all the time, like, I don't like to sit still. So they

Scott 9:27
we had cubicles. There we went, from the lifetime table, plastic thing set up, and then we grew up and we had cubicles, and we're sitting in these squares. And it definitely was that. It was like, why is my soul feel like it's being sucked out of me while I go to work. But I will say, like, I I actually think all entrepreneurs need to do some corporate stuff as a foundation, like sales, if you can for sure, but you need to get your butt kicked. You need to realize that, like, because if you, if you do start a business, and you are a founder and you are an owner, and you're gonna employ people, you need to know what. Feels like to be employed, because otherwise you can't be a good employer. And so I've been able to, like, really be grateful for getting my butt kicked for a few years and hating life to now, like, at Sodabox

. I'm like, I want us to have cool shirts. I want us to be wearing stuff the kids want to wear at school. I want music in the stores. I do not want it to be boring. I want this to be like, I want people, you know, it's a job. You still get paid to do it, because you wouldn't do it for free, right? Like, it you still need to do your job and clean and do all this other stuff, right? Like, I want people to look forward to going to work. I want them to have fun. So that's always stuck with me, because I was like, man, jobs suck, yeah. How can we make this better? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 10:41
So you started this business. What advice would you give to a student wanting to start their own business?

Scott 10:47
Don't do it. Somebody called me asking for advice when my friends back home from Washington, and she's like, Oh, I'm tired of this, you know, job and we want to, we want to, like, take life into our own hands. And you don't want to work for, you know, work for myself. And I'm like, man, like, yes, but like, you know, you think nine to five is bad. This is 24/7 Yep, yeah. This is seven days a week, like, a day off. Like, what a weird concept for me. Like, I don't, I do not understand that, like, always on call, like, the biggest and worst problems, don't care what day it is. They don't care what time it is. So it's like, it's, I don't know. It's just in you, like, it just is this that, like you're describing, it's this, like, feeling that, like, I can't sit at a cubicle all day and just click a mouse. You know, these patterns, it's like, I need new challenges and do all that stuff so it is not for the faint of heart. It is very difficult. And I will say, like, Sodabox is probably my ninth or 10th company like it. I would say, expect to fail and look forward to it like I did like a Kickstarter wallet company at the beginning, and we did like this toy company for a while that went pretty well. But like, man, I've probably had four or five business partners that didn't work out. Now we're with my brother, which has just been amazing. So you just expect it's it's weird. It's like entrepreneurs, I feel like we're chronically optimistic, and we think, like, this is the next billion dollar idea. This is the next Facebook. And none of them are like, just forget that. But, but you almost have to have that in you. You almost have to actually think that to do it. And then, you know, you just need to learn to fail, because you just get better. That's how you learn. So I don't know if that was very encouraging, but it's like, it's like, everyone's not meant to be an entrepreneur. I'm actually, this is actually a pretty good story. So my first business, out of, like, my first real job, I wanted to teach people and start the business is really good branding, because we had this company, and we looked like our branding, our packaging, looked like we belonged in these stores which we started selling into. We started selling into Rei and Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. They were buying our stuff, and they didn't realize that like we were like on these little plastic tables in the warehouse, like barely getting by. But we looked so good. So when that company sold, and you know, my awesome four year journey, there nine different jobs. I always say I worked in every department except for finance and HR, like I did not want to touch those which, now, when you're entrepreneur, you're like, oh my gosh, you definitely need to know finance. So you need to have a balance spreadsheet. Don't, don't skip that class, guys. So I want to start this branding company. And I started, I asked the founder of that company to mentor me. So we went to dinner with his wife and and him once a month. And I was telling him, like, I want to teach people to have their own jobs. Like I want to, I want to help them get marketing and branding so that everyone can be an entrepreneur. I'm telling him this vision. And he was like, what you just described is a lot of people's nightmare because, because I was like, telling him, I'm like, you know, they can leave the nine to five and they can have their own business, and they can start their own thing. And because, because a lot of times when you do this, like you, you you only make what you work to earn, right? You don't get a paycheck. Like, it's not like a job where you work nine to five, you check these boxes and your paycheck comes every two weeks. Like that is not it. And so I was like, telling him, like, I want to have one today. He's like, he's like, I felt that, you know, he's 60 plus something, and he's just like, Yeah, I had that idea too. He's like, but that idea of no steady income and working with maybe out with reward, or maybe it's a few years down the road like that is people's nightmare, like lot of people, maybe most people would rather just have the consistent paycheck sit in a cubicle and check some boxes. And it was a big eye opener for me. As I looked around, I realized, yeah, that's actually true. Like, truly aren't. Entrepreneurship is not for everybody and but everyone should try it, because I do think it is also important, like an employer needs to know what it's like to be an employee. I think a lot of employees don't realize how much pressure and how difficult it is to be an entrepreneur. Yeah. So,

Layla Mullen 15:16
yeah, I took a entrepreneurship class last semester, actually, and my professor, one of the first things she said to us was like, it's not easy, and she had had a few businesses that she had sold, but she was saying how she wouldn't get paid for months when she had first started, because she was had all these other obligations. So pronounce

Scott 15:38
gets paid first, for sure your last one, if there's extra, that's it?

Layla Mullen 15:42
Yep, a very selfless job. Yeah, I

Scott 15:45
think, I mean, innately, it's like, it's just this giant gamble. You're just like, man, in 10 years, maybe, you know, and it really just comes down to, like, realizing what you're getting is the experience. And you just as long as you there's a really good guy, Alex hermosi, guys. Alex hermosi, I don't very great. He's awesome, awesome podcaster. He goes on podcast. He's an entrepreneur, okay? And he did like gyms and things like that, and really breaks it down really well. I feel like he's probably one of the best in the game right now, him and Gary V. Gary V around forever. He's a legend. But Alex hormocy basically just says, like, as long as you don't quit, you you won't lose. Like, it really is just like, you're you're gonna fail, you go bankrupt, you're gonna do all these things, as long as you don't quit, and you keep going, you didn't lose, and eventually you'll break through, because everyone quits. And I think that's the real lesson, is why, like, nine out of 10 businesses or something to fail is because they quit. And, you know, I think last week, Brent and I woke up, it was like, Tuesday, whatever, and it was like, All right, what's, what's the miracle of the day? We're gonna have to figure out? And that's like, literally how it feels, like, it's like you're just constantly thrown these impossible things, and you're like, Okay, how do we solve this? Like, because the answer is always no. The answer is always, well, just take a nap. There's a lot of but it's like, just keep pushing and don't quit. And all of a sudden it's like, if there has to be a solution, you find one.

Brooke Lyle 17:18
Yeah, you said that nine out of every 10 businesses fail? Is that? What you said, there's

Scott 17:25
some stat like that. Okay, I think it literally is, like, 90% of business fail. Do

Speaker 1 17:29
you think, did you know there was something special about Sodabox that would, like, make it succeed when you first started?

Scott 17:35
I like, I said, like, entrepreneurs were just, like, chronically optimistic. Like, I've learned to just be like, I have to, like, chill myself out, because I'm always just like, This is gonna be, you know, I'm always just so, like, we're gonna work it out. It's gonna we're gonna go, you know, just optimistic. And I think you have to be honest, if you're an entrepreneur, like, because, like, I said, it's about not quitting. And if you're, like, easily frustrated and and don't have, like, an emotional endurance, and I've built this up over the years, right? Like, you know, the companies have just gotten bigger and bigger and more riskier. And, you know, we have like, 100 employees. And it's like, where, how did that happen? You know, before all the other businesses had like, one or two, or yeah, maybe at a small marketing company, I was maybe 10, you know, and that builds up over time, the resilience. But when Yeah, I was like, This just makes sense. Like, I'm like, it's blowing up in the West, but the South is the home de soda. Like this makes sense. I remember someone saying, if so, someone's gonna do this here. Why not you absolutely. Oh, that's a cool concept. Yeah, let me Okay, yeah, screw it, yeah. Why not me? Let's try it. It

Brooke Lyle 18:53
was definitely gonna get done here if you didn't do it first, because, like, especially on tick tock, dirty sodas have, like, been blowing up recently, yeah, and yeah, that's

Scott 19:03
great. Yeah, we've been we're waiting. We're like, I'm like, I think the first year, like 2021, 2020, I'm like, Come on, catch on. Come on, catch up. But yeah, there's definitely a lot more in the media about it. For sure, it's, yeah, it's been good. Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:16
So speaking of social media, have you how have you guys, like, utilized that, slash, what platforms have you guys been using to, like, promote Sodabox? Yeah,

Scott 19:23
absolute must. I mean, it's only place to promote, I mean, old media, like, sorry, yep, dead. But it just is. It's like, I'm like, bummed out when, like, a radio station or like a TV like we did, I won't say the name of it, we did a show here in North Carolina, and I literally was, like, absolutely zero impact. I mean, it was crazy to like this. We went on TV, yeah, in our market, and nothing that day or that week changed at all. It was bonkers to me. I'm like, How in the world, but, yeah, social media absolutely huge difference. We had. Have some incredible people over our social media. Definitely invest in that. I would say the most important ones are definitely Instagram and Tiktok meta in general, are our demographic, like, one of our core it's like, it's like college kids and then like, their moms, yeah, it's like, this gap, yeah, you know. And so a lot of millennials and older are still on Facebook, so we actually have a lot of success on Facebook still. So that's really good, but Instagram and and Tiktok are definitely the place to be, and their vibes are a little bit different. You know, Instagram is a little more polished up, Tiktok is a little bit more raw, but we've had some great of invested more and more time in there, and we've had some great, great content go semi viral, yeah,

Speaker 2 20:41
and social media is only going to continue to grow. That's my whole thing. Like, that's why I wanted to get a business degree, because I'm like, it's only going to continue to grow. Everyone's going to end up utilizing it. So it's really interesting to hear it from the owner stance, yeah,

Scott 21:00
no, you have to do it. I mean, like, how else? I mean, honestly, the alternative. You know, when you look at, like, your marketing levers, I call them, it's like, okay, how can we get awareness, right? Which is the top of the funnel. It's like, how do we get awareness? How do people hear about us for the first time? And it's like, literally, the options are like, do posts or stand on the corner of the street with a sign, like, it's the same thing, like, it's, it's interrupting people's normal flow with, like, hey, Sodabox It's like, what is that? Like, that's, you need to get 10 of those. And then they're like, oh, maybe, oh, I've heard of that. Their friend says, Have you gotten a dirty soda? What's that? Oh, go to Sodabox Oh, I saw some kid holding a sign on the side of the road this one day. It was a Sodabox sign. Or, oh, yeah, saw some random post in my feed four weeks ago. It just, it takes time, and you have to build awareness. You have to get in front of people. So, you know, just the numbers, and there's billions of people on social media and millions just in this area, so you have to do it.

Speaker 2 21:57
Yeah, absolutely okay. Going back to kind of the marketing aspects, the social media side, how did you come up with, like, the Soto box logo, like the Soto box colors, the whole scheme of everything, because that's what draws customers into. Was like, how it looks, yeah,

Brooke Lyle 22:16
the look, the feel, the it's funny, like, I'm I'm the like, marketing vibe, feel, side of things. And my brother is definitely like, the mechanical logistics, uh, side of things. And so it's, it's, it's funny that it's a challenge to explain to him, and he sees it now, but it's like, it's like, I like the the word I finally got around to was vibe. I'm like, Look at the vibe of the logo. Look at the vibe of our stores. It needs to be it needs to feel this way, right? And he's just, like, just make it red. That's that's the most like interrupting color. Like, can't just make it red. Red makes you feel a certain way. It's like an action color, or it's too if you red and black, for instance. Like, we have red and black in our logos, but I'd like never let us use them, one on top of the other, because it's like, it looks like Communist Party, like little you know what I mean? Like, they, they have, like, these histories. But what you'll notice is, in food, they always use red. You'll look at McDonald's and all the guys they they always put with food, because it's it, it, I don't know if it makes you hungry or what, but but it is an action color. I remember, early in my marketing career, I was doing AB tests, and we had these landing pages, and they had a call to action, give us your email or something, and the only thing we tested was a blue button or a red button, and red got, like, two times the emails just because the button was red. Wow. It's crazy what colors and stuff can do. So Megan, the Sodabox logo was definitely was, you know, who's our target audience is like, hey, these, these millennial parents, these college kids and things like that. So I wanted it to be fun. One of the challenges, actually, over the years, have been making the brand more feminine. Because originally it was in we were in this gray shipping container.Apex Our floors are concrete sealed and the walls are gray. Now we have these, like, big pops of color and stuff. But before it was just like, all gray, our logo on top of that. And I remember this one picture popped up on our social media, and this person had put their their kid on the floor, which was, like, in a little, oh my gosh, a baby carrier. Yeah, baby carrier on the floor corner, you know, where it says our Sodabox logo, and took a picture with a shipping container. Esque walls are. And look at this picture, and I'm like, this could be in a parking lot. Like, this is not the vibe. I'm like this. Like, if you want, like, the girly moms to, like, take a selfie in here. Like, I don't want them to feel like they're in like, a warehouse parking lot. So I literally flew some friends out. I have great, incredible and he used them to help me make the logo and stuff. And his wife is. Girliest girl I've ever met in my life. She literally has a hair salon in her house. Wow. And I'm like, Please help me. Please help me. So her and him, they all came out, and we, in two or three days, repainted all the stores to be more white, bring in teal, brighter, funner colors, and got a rid of some of the gray, because it was like, Okay, a little depressing in here, even though we're mostly a drive through. But when you do come in, we want it to be a fun

Speaker 1 25:26
vibe. Yeah, I've seen on Sodabox Instagram. Y'all do like a photo booth in one of your stores? Yeah? What's the thought behind that?

Brooke Lyle 25:34
So from the very beginning, I always wanted to make a brand that people will share for me, because it's expensive. You have to pay to get in front of people. And I'm like, the foundation, the idea of Sodabox at the very beginning, actually, was all the corners to be selfie corners. So at the very beginning, I wanted to make almost like selfie booths. And have one corner be bright pink, have one corner, have like the vines coming down the wall, have one corner, have balloons. And so it was like, very selfie Ford, so like, people can post for us. And that's kind of evolved into, I had, I originally had ring lights, so there's, like, really big ring lights. I was like, Oh, just put your phone there. People wouldn't do that or this. Like, it's so crazy to think that looks so obvious, but like, just the barrier of having someone have to click their phone into a ring and do it like no one's doing it. So we did this test where it's like, well, let's put an iPad there that's already built, and then they can just, like, text them their own and like, instantly every time they walk in like selfie booth. So we have our own custom little selfie booths, iPads that take pictures of people that, you know, they send to themselves, and they share in every store now, and so that's the idea, is definitely want people to share their experience, have a good experience, and then take a picture and tell their friends. Yeah. I've

used those, like, iPads where you text yourself the photo, and they are super easy, yeah. And I've have my, like, weddings and like formal events and stuff. So exactly,

so good idea, yeah. It was like a like, you could temporarily rent them or whatever, put them in there. So we did that one store, and then I was like, I want and then I was like, all, I want these permanent. And we built them in our own little cup logo, and they look super cute. So, yeah, they're in all the stores now, absolutely essential. And the other thing that was, like, a happy little consequence is the, not all the stores have it, because the walls just don't work. But the we turned our Sodaboxlogo, the like square into a chair. So that's pretty fun. Is most of them are pointing towards that you can go sit. Can go sit in the Sodabox chair, yeah, and then take a selfie. That's

like, those, you know, those big, like beach chairs that are sometimes out of, like, Mexican restaurants, or, like at the beach, or like, duck donuts. Yeah, we were at duck donuts this past weekend, and we were taking photos in the chair like that. So

Scott 27:36
that's, yeah, we, I went on vacation to Tulum, Mexico. And I swear that entire place is just built for Instagram. 100% every wall, every corner of that place is like, curated for Instagram. And in fact, you that you find, like, a lot of, like, big influencers, is they go there just for the actually low key don't like it. I'd rather go somewhere else, because I think it's the most expensive. Most expensive city, like, but I was totally inspired by, like, wow, you can really have, like, curated selfie, like, you'll be in, like, some, like, gross Caye Hone, like, like, a little like, street, and then at the end of it is, like, this, like, beautiful chair and the beach. And you're like, I'll take a picture. Yeah,

Layla Mullen 28:20
yeah. I also like, how on the Instagram I'll see, like, sometimes there'll be a post of the customers, like, in their car, and I always see, like, my friends or roommate, and I'm like, Oh, I know where they were.

Scott 28:34
That's awesome. That's totally what we want. That's perfect. That's good to hear. Yeah, our social media team is crushing it.

Brooke Lyle 28:42
Okay. So back to you, wanting to have experience being an employee to be a good employer. How do you use that to have a good working culture and just have a positive, uplifting experience at work?

Scott 28:57
Yeah, one phrase I've heard a lot is the fish stinks from the head down, which I don't know if that's true. I don't know if there's a fish start stinking from its face. Is that a thing? I don't know. Have you heard that phrase? Though, I haven't common phrase. Okay, so the fish starts singing from the head down. So the idea, basically, is like the top of the company sets the tone, sets the culture, and so that, like for the customers. I want to be a good experience. I want the vibe to match their vibe. Very simpler with employees, employees, employers. And you know, my brother, Brent, is one of the most hard working people have ever seen. And both of us get on the line all the time and make drinks. Brent more than me. I like to sit back and watch like, is our systems in place, like, can they handle this rush, things like that. But I think it's really important for the team to know, no matter what your rank is, no matter who you are, you're just there to win for the customer, things like that. I've seen before at the one or two companies I worked for where you had those executives that were just like, you knew which ones were real and which ones were. Late, and which one's worked hard, and you just wanted to work harder for them. And then you had the ones that were like, fake, like, there was this one finance guy that put a cot in his office, but never used it was like, it was like this, like, it was like, we would like, talk about in the business, in the company, it was like he literally was just trying to pretend like he slept there, like he was trying to create this fake Legend of him, and everyone just saw right through it. And it was like, No one, no one wanted to help him. It was like, Dude, you're, you're fake. And you'll, you'll say things that aren't true. You'll, you'll, you know, talk, you know, bad behind my back or whatever. So that, from back in the day, I'm like, Okay, I always want anyone that ever works for me to know I got their back. I'm not gonna be shady. Everything I do is just me. This is just how it is. And then also makes you work on yourself, right? Because it's like, you can't just pretend to be this great boss. You have to, like, put work in and go to therapy and like, like, work on yourself to be able to be someone that maybe people look up to. Yeah, you can't say you work hard. You have to actually work hard. Yeah, right, like, you have to do it. And then they see it, you know, if you just walk around, be like, I work so hard. Be like, Dude, you come in, like, once a week, you know, it doesn't work. So I feel like the culture matches your tone. And then I feel like what you also have to do is, on the unfortunately, on the bottom side is you got to get people out that kill the culture fast. If they are downers or mean or toxic or whatever, verify that and get them out, because it is like a virus, it will spread. We've, we had a whole store really, just from the manager, like, what is going down on? Like sales are going down, like people are showing up late, like what is happening? And we don't get too dramatic, but we basically nuked to the store. It was like, our managers gone. Everyone's fired at this point. If you want your job back, you have to apply for it. Yeah. And so the ones that really wanted their job were like, Oh my gosh. Like, knew we were serious. Reapplied. So we kept one or two, and like, instantly the next week is, like, everything was better. It was like, wow. Like, vibe really matters. How we're talking to customers is how they're being managed. If the manager is talking down to the soda reaches the soda, Easter is going to talk down to the customer. And so it's been extremely important for us to, like, make it a good environment, because ultimately, that makes it a good environment for the

Brooke Lyle 32:19
customers. Yeah. So now that you have like, so many different locations, are you and your brother able to spread yourself to all the locations, or do you have to pick, like, gosh, it's

Scott 32:28
so hard. I mean, we went we, I don't want to say we over, expanded too fast, but, oh man, like, three stores a year, it was wild. No, it's definitely, we were definitely spread, and we've had to open up the team, and that's been extremely helpful. Is just like having more people on the team, more management and things like that, that can you know people we trust, and put strategic people that are important to us in certain stores. So we've definitely had to another phrase I've heard before, not as weird as the fish one, but you have to give up to go up, yeah, and you really do have to, like, empower and entrust other people. They're not going to do it every time like you would have. And you got to get over that. Believe in people and the level up. And so we've had to definitely spread away ourselves thin. So, yeah, we choose what stores and we depending on what needs to be done. There this morning, the air fryer went out of one store. So like, go to my house, take my personal air fryer, and it's in the store this morning. So I had to go to that store because they needed an air fryer. But don't worry, guys, the pretzel bites are going to be the new air fryers coming today. They're so good. But in the meantime, it's like my little baby personal air fryer that's like, this big. I'm like, you can only do one, one pretzel bite at a time. So it just, it just depends what the stores need, and we try and get into all of them. You know, it's

Layla Mullen 33:46
really nice to hear about how much you care about your employees and just about your overall business, because this is gonna sound shady, I promise. I don't mean it to be. But I know a lot of entrepreneurs or people who own businesses in my hometown that seemingly just do it for, like, the status to be like a top dog. But you know, from what you've said, like, you truly care about what you do, what products you make, how you sell it.

Brooke Lyle 34:13
Thank you. It, I'm actually, like, it's, I talked to my social media manager about this a lot, like, I, I actually, I It's weird. So I know I need to do more selfie videos. I know I need to be on camera more. I know I need to talk more, but I'm like, afraid of that. Like, I'm not, I'm not doing it for me. Like I have an account called Sodabox Scott, and it's like, my alter ego or whatever. Then I'm like, Oh, I'm Sodabox Scott. Like, it's about me, and I hate it but, but it like you have to do it, like you guys talking about, like, if you don't, if you don't stand on the corner and hold the sign, people don't know you exist. And so I learned a lesson every time, every time I do a video, every time I post like people talk, share, and all of a sudden sales are better. The next day. I'm like, gosh, I just need to do that more. Like, get. Over the cringe, get over what people may think about you. Yeah, I just, I had it. Have to push through it and but, yeah, thank you. It's, it's hard because it's like, I still, even, even though I have the post, like, the little I have posted, I have heard one or two, like, friends that were just like, oh, like, this is the Scott show. I'm like, come on, yeah, I'm like, it really isn't, but it also kind of has to be, you know, like, I remember someone said something that was like, you know, if you look at the big companies, you look at their followers, and then you look at the founder of their company, the founder always has way more followers. Yeah, right. Like, not to get like, political, but like, I use this example, and now it's like a political example. So that's not what's about, but just a good example is like, way more people follow Elon Musk then follow like, Tesla SpaceX, and way more people follow Jeff Bezos then follow Amazon, right? And so it's like, people care about the story, about the person behind the company more than the company, and so I'm trying to integrate the two. But I just, every time I put the camera up and I'll see myself up there, just like, Okay, go, go, go. But yeah, it is important. And and then I guess you just got to stop Karen sometimes what people think. But I appreciate and having the opportunity to be here to say like this, because I'm realizing I haven't, like, I believe this, and we've put in programs and systems. Like, that's why there's music inside, and why I want them to pick the music. Within reason, there was, like, a season at Sodabox where the music was, like, not the same vibe as our customers. I'm like, Hey, we need to chill it out and, like, also explicit, like, turn that on. Like, don't do that. But yeah, yeah, you kind of got to push through it and and hopefully, because we care so much about the end customer experience, we get that back where they come back and help support us and love us as much as we love them, you know. Yeah,

definitely. So this is off topic a little bit. But how are you and your team able to come up with, like, new drink combinations? Kind of back to the cheer wine thing. But yeah,

Scott 37:11
I've been blessed with some people call it add, you know, some people I just, I just, I like, like, with the energy drinks back in the day, I just always wanted to try different flavors and combinations and like, I'll to this day, I'll go to a restaurant or bar and I'll just be like, Hey, make me a drink. What do you want? Whatever you want to make me like, surprise me. Like, I still do that. I literally have gone to restaurants and just say the waitress, order me, whatever. Order me. What you think? Well, do you have any different let's lately? How many allergies or anything like that have to do with so I just like, I'm literally just like, I wanna try something new. So it's just part of me. And so, yeah, I'll just, every day kind of make a new drink. To be honest, I definitely fall into like, Oh, this is my favorite drink right now, but I don't have one that's like, the drink of all the drinks that I've always just been my favorite. Like, I'm not even, like, really into like, Coke and Pepsi, but they were, like, dirty razzmatazz was like, my drink for a while. I was just like, this is a sleeper. I'm like, This drink is maybe the best one on the menu. So it just rotates. I won't say I get bored, but I'm just like, What would coconut and strawberry tastes like in a cheer wine, you know? Yeah. So it just, it kind of comes to me, and that's another thing I need to, like document. Because every day I'm like, listen that social media managers like, come on, Scott. But yeah, though it's definitely was part of inception, you know, I think we have like 80 drinks now, and there's only like 20 on the menu. And so there's like this, this, I know we call it secret menu, but it's like all the old drinks we've made, they're all still actually, like in the computer on the drinks. So you can still get drinks from even the shipping container. Days it was like a totally different menu, but we've just curated the drinks on the menu today is what most of the customers are ordering and like. But it's hard. It's so funny how different everyone's palette is, yeah? Like, I've done a few like, bring customers in blind taste testing. Let's hang out round table. And like, for instance, I thought everyone loved the dirty floater, which is basically tastes like a rubber float.

Brooke Lyle 39:16
That is actually my drink of choice, yeah,

Scott 39:17
dirty floater. And now it's a floaty floater. And so it's like, technically, the dirty floaty floater is the full name. But during that round table, I was like, Okay, here's like, the baseline. I'll give everyone this drink, and they'll give them another drink, and they're like, writing down. They're writing down their dislikes. And it was like, 5050, like half of them were like, I just don't like root beer. And I was like, everyone loves this drink. I'm like, I don't understand. Why do you not like and those not like and that was like, I just learned. I'm like, Man, you just you cannot make that's why you have to have such a diverse menu. Because you have to have kind of more bitter, more cream based drinks, and then you have to have, like, really acidy sweet drinks for other people too. So it's been fun, because I can just be all over the place and then see what people like. Yeah. Root

Brooke Lyle 40:00
Beer is my favorite soda, but I know it's kind of divisive, like, some people hate it. So yeah,

Scott 40:05
root beers got an interesting history too. Like, how it's made and stuff like that. If you look into it's like, made it, like, genuinely is made from, like, tree roots. Oh, that's cool, specific trees and stuff like that. It's a cool history of how and that's been fun, too. It's like, I learned, like, where these, all this stuff comes from and like, Coca Cola has got an interesting background. Used to literally have cocaine in it, right, right? And so it's like, I think they actually still, they're the they import cocaine leaves. I don't have cocaine. I don't know. It's a different strain of cocaine leaves. Actually still, like the government imports cocaine, man, I hope this is true. I'm pretty sure this is true, but when I last read it, I'll just say it was Wikipedia, so that way it's, like, not verified, right? No, it but yeah, they still put coconut leaves flavor in their drink and stuff like that. Yeah? But back in the day, Dr Pepper was literally Dr Pepper, because it was a first doctors used it to, like, help upset stomachs and stuff like that. Oh, it's cool. It's medicine. Yeah, medicine. That's what I tell myself every time I happen to dirty Dr Pepper, right? Pepper, right? I'm like, Thanks, Doctor. Yeah, feel better today.

Brooke Lyle 41:06
Yeah, yes. So a dirty drink has creamer in it, and I know a lot of people now are, like, choosing to go dairy free for different reasons. Do you guys have, like, almond milk, oat milk, stuff like that, to put in?

Scott 41:18
Thank you so much for the question. No, we literally, like last month, launched coconut creamer also. So we had just half and half creamer for forever. And then last month, maybe a month before, we launched coconut creamer. So now there's a non dairy option, and coconut creamer is delicious. So nice in there too.

Brooke Lyle 41:35
Is there any other like allergies that you guys have to deal with?

Scott 41:40
The the rooter we chose is a non caffeinated root beer. There's some reapers have caffeine and stuff like that. So I'm pretty sure ours is barks, and it's not caffeinated, so things like that, where it's like the kids, but again, that's something like, we don't necessarily talk about, but was like, a choice we made, right? I need to tell people about, like, why this is our root beer. So, like, you know, a lot of parents don't want their kids, you know, with caffeine. So look at the sprite drink and things like that. We have some of the store, like, we'll do hot chocolates in the winter, and we'll have Nutella and one of the drinks. And so we have to have, like, a separate little blender and scoop and stuff that don't touch nuts, right? So things like that, but, you know, sugar, water, ice, pretty safe?

Brooke Lyle 42:26
Yeah, I just asked, because I'm always interested in what kind of thought goes behind that stuff, because that's not something. I don't have any allergies about that too, on the regular, but I have a lot of friends who have different palates. So

Scott 42:38
yeah, every time I get coffee and they're like, is 2% milk? Okay? I'm like, is there another option? What are you talking about here? Give me the real deal. Yeah, the milk. Yeah. Sorry for everyone. I just offended.

Layla Mullen 42:51
So we've kind of touched on, like, overcoming challenges with having, like, a good attitude and a mental space. Is there anything you like to do? Like, if you've had a stressful day at work, like, do you like to go on a walk? Do you like have a comfort show? Comfort food?

Scott 43:09
Yeah, great question. So my comfort habit is Jiu Jitsu. Okay, that's been God send. And funny enough, I literally had a conversation with I was meeting someone in my building, and you know, what do you do? Blah, blah. And he turns out, he's like, this, like, third degree Black Belt world champion in the 90s, like crazy, big deal jiu jitsu guy. And you know, he's like, Well, why do you do Jiu Jitsu? And I'm like, I literally just do it because it's the only time my brain turns off. And he was like, exactly. He's like, you get it. I'm like, my only goal is to show up. I'm not trying to win nothing. I'm not trying to learn all the moves and all the people. It's just this flow state you get in. Can't think about your phone. You're hand to hand combat with another person. The only thing that matters is literally the present moment. It's meditation for dudes, like, I don't know how to explain it, but it is like, it's extremely stressful, it's extremely hard, and it's funny, like, it's like, for me, it's like, oh, there's this crazy thing we need to fix that. You know, the plumbing went bad. I'm like, Well, I was trying to get someone's trying to strangle me this morning. So, like, fixing the plumbing is a little bit less stressful, yeah, than like, some guy trying to kill me. That makes sense low key. So it's helped set the bar of stress. But it's also, uh, physically, really nice to get all that energy out. I sleep a lot better. My mind's a lot clearer. To have some sort of physical exercise. So I love jiu jitsu that chills me out. Funny enough. Funny enough. Like, when you learn to fight, you want to fight less, that's for sure. Like, out and you realize, like, how dangerous it is. Yeah. So just like, lay that down. Like people, like a lot of people that are, like, really into fighting, are, like, pretty gentle. It's kind of been cool to see. And what was the other part of the question? I. Uh, comfort shows Brooklyn. Let's see here, Brooklyn nine, nine. Okay, yeah, that's a good show gone to there's an old one. It's like, the only show I've watched like, two or three times all the way through. It's called community it's about a community college. Oh my gosh, it's so funny. Donald Glover's in it, which is, like, he's, oh yeah, but that's like, yeah, he was acting and Chevy Chase, who's an old school, really funny guy from SNL, but, yeah, so those are, like, my two, like, whatever. I don't watch a ton of TV, but I'll do that. I'll dabble when I need to, with little Brooklyn nine, nine or Reno 911 is another funny cop show. My gosh, that shows a lot, but it's funny. Yeah.

Brooke Lyle 45:39
Well, do you have anything else to say about soda box or entrepreneurship, or anything like that? No, you

Scott 45:45
guys did an amazing job. This was a really good podcast. Well done, yeah, yeah, this doesn't this. Is this a class? Is this like, you're like, students

Layla Mullen 45:52
in this? Or is this? No, it's just kind of just our own thing. No way.

Scott 45:55
Yeah, I was gonna say felt very natural. This was like, like, this felt like a true podcast. I mean, it is, this has been great. Well done. Yeah,

Brooke Lyle 46:03
we normally like to close out with our Thorn and Rose of the day or week, which is like a high and low. So if we want to do that, that'd be great. Well, you guys start though. Okay, yeah, I can go first. Okay, my rose of this past week was me and Layla and another friend went camping this past weekend that was really fun. My Thorn is that finals are coming up, and I'm not looking forward to that.

Layla Mullen 46:29
Yeah, those are good and bad, I guess my I'll start with my thorn. My Thorn is that my voice is a little scratchy because of the went and I've had to step out like three times to call sorry about that again. And then my rose is that I also had a good time this weekend. And then this coming weekend, I'm going home for Easter, so I'm excited to see my awesome

Brooke Lyle 46:56
well, we'll do a little Sodabox plug for the NC State students. So because of finals and things like that. We're actually launching today, and we'll be, don't tell anybody. I mean, don't tell the administration. But we're gonna be passing out cards all over campus, and it'll be a BOGO deal. So be like, buy one, get one free, just for NC State students, just for finals. So over the next two weeks, if you're lucky enough to find one of those cards, come on down, and let's see a rose and a thorn. This little combo, actually just pushed myself to do a little Sodabox Scott post, I posted it yet, but my my father passed about like 10 years ago, and he loved Diet Coke. And so we have a drink on the menu called Sea town pops, which were from Seattle. So that sea town and then pops, as we call Dad, Pops, and so we're doing a little tribute on the 18th. Was this Friday we're doing, he would have been 67 and so we're doing 67% off any Coke, Diet Coke drinkers. Pops, yeah, well, but it, it's just, it's, it's fun to have a personal company, that you can instill personal things like that into the company and then have people partake of them, like, be a part of it. It's really, it's just cool extension. Like, it's like, maybe this sounds a little dramatic, but it's like, my dad kind of lives on through these ideas, because I get it like, yeah, right. Like, it's, it's kind of cool. It's not something I ever thought I would be able to do, necessarily or like, wanted to do, but it is fun to like, when people ask, like, Where did the name of this drink come from? Or how'd you come up with this? It's like, like, it's, it's our history. It's, it's like, part of who we are, right? Like, I think that's what's cool. And what you'll see about the podcast is it will evolve into who you are. That's like, what the Yeah, the podcast becomes when you put more money yourself into it. So it's been cool to see as Sodabox grows, more people put their vibe into Sodabox, and it evolves as more people come on board. So super fun. Yeah, thanks for letting me share. Yeah,

Speaker 2 48:55
of course. Thanks for being on we've been looking forward to this. So yes, we're excited that it finally got to happen. Yeah,

Scott 49:01
one thing that's really good is our Instagram is we post daily deals. So if anyone's interested in Sodaboxand wants a deal, every day, we have a different deal. It's in our stories, Sodabox dot love, and that I should talk more about that. Like, our website is soda box. Dot love, yeah, our Instagram handle is at Sodabox Dot love. Like, from the beginning, it was always this idea of, like, how can we spread the love? In a lot of our stories, we have this little box, which is, share the love. And like, people can write on the cards, and then we'll, when we get to it, read those cards out. But it's all like, love based, kind of like you guys do with the rose, yeah, thorn. It's like, hey, what's a positive thing? Let's give, you know, more love into the world, even if it's from, you know, taking a sip of a soda makes you smile. Like, yeah, at least that moment's a little better.

Layla Mullen 49:46
Yeah. We wondered, when we were emailing back and forth with Jake. We wondered why the

Scott 49:51
Sodabox? Yeah, I just loved the idea. And we like, use hearts and things like that where we can, but, you know, you want a purpose. Behind business other than just, like, I want to make money. It's like, that doesn't work. You'll gas out. Yeah, you got to have a better purpose. And for Sodabox it's, it's spread the love. So

Brooke Lyle 50:09
that's awesome, yeah? Well, thanks so much for coming on. Yeah and yeah, we'll catch you guys on the flip. Bye. You.

Music in this episode is from loop masters, hip hop and R and B breaks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai