TRANSCRIPT

Derrick Michaud: 

Hello and welcome to The Real Hernando, a podcast created to highlight our amazing local community and small businesses here in Hernando, Mississippi. I’m your host Derrick, and this episode is brought to you by Shelby Row Productions. Today I'm talking with Jeremy and Bre Odom, owners of J&B Candle Company. They sell handcraft candles, goats milk soap, body butters, and sugar scrubs, and they're located at 3016 Highway 51, Suite 101 right here in Hernando, Mississippi. Jeremy, Bre, thanks for being here today. 

Jeremy Odom:

Thank you for having us. 

Bre Odom:

Thank you.

Derrick Michaud:

Absolutely. So I've heard a lot about y'all from some I would say mutual friends. 

Jeremy Odom:

Don’t believe half of what you hear. 

Derrick Michaud:

I believed only 25%.

Jeremy Odom:

Good, good. We're definitely good then. 

Derrick Michaud:

And when I started this, you guys were on my radar for sure, and I wanted to come meet y’all. And we did. We met a few weeks ago, and we're finally here. This is good stuff. I'm here to get your story and just how this came to be and all these amazing candles behind us. And I don't know where the sugar scrubs are. What does a sugar scrub even look like?

Jeremy Odom:

So they're back here on this wall. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. So they're the second shelf down. 

Derrick Michaud:

So to paint the picture for the listeners because a lot of people don't watch this because it's on YouTube, but most people just listen. So as you walk in, to your left, you got two shelves of candles. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir. 

Derrick Michaud:

And then after that, you got the—what are those? The body baths? 

Jeremy Odom:

So as you walk in the shop on your left, on the top shelf, you have eight-ounce candles. On the bottom, you have 12-ounce. And then you go to the shelf immediately after that, at the very top, you have body butters that are made with avocados. The next shelf you have our sugar scrubs. Then we have muscle rub as well as beard oils. And then you have wax melts at the very end of the wall. 

Derrick Michaud:

I have a feeling you felt it was very important to have beard—

Jeremy Odom:

Very much so. 

Derrick Michaud:

Beard oils in there.

Jeremy Odom:

That was my one input on this whole situation.

Derrick Michaud:

And Bre did everything else? 

Jeremy Odom:

Pretty much, pretty much. That's the one say I had. 

Derrick Michaud:

So look, where y’all from originally? You guys grew up in Hernando or where are y'all from? 

Bre Odom:

I'm from Walls, Mississippi. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

So I grew up in Horn Lake and that's where I graduated from. 

Derrick Michaud:

So neighboring towns. I'm guessing that's how y’all met? 

Jeremy Odom:

We met, yes, I was in eighth grade, and she was in sixth. That's when we met. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh okay.

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir. 

Derrick Michaud:

Awesome. Look at this stud here. 

Jeremy Odom:

A long time ago. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh, come on, not that long ago. I bet it was longer for me. 

Jeremy Odom:

Well, we've been, let's see, eighth grade and sixth grade, we've been off and on since. 

Derrick Michaud:

Wow, that's awesome. That's amazing. Good for y’all. And I'm sure it was perfect the whole time, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Perfect. It's been good. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you graduate obviously two years before Bre here. But after y’all are out of school and everything, what was the career path? What were y’all doing? 

Jeremy Odom:

Well, it's kind of different because we did everything backwards. We found out we were having her while she was still in high—or sorry. We found out we were having our oldest child now that's in middle school when she was still in high school. So we did everything backwards. So my first thought was, crap, I've got a man up. So I went to a trade school, and I did that for the last 10 plus years until we went with self-employment. 

Derrick Michaud:

What was the trade? 

Jeremy Odom:

I did air condition and appliances. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir. 

Derrick Michaud:

And meanwhile you were…? 

Bre Odom:

I just graduated high school, and then I stayed at home with the kids. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. Raising the baby? 

Bre Odom:

Because we kept having more kids. 

Derrick Michaud:

How many kids y’all have now? 

Bre Odom:

Four. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir. 

Derrick Michaud:

Good for you. Four kids and starting a business. You guys are bored, aren't you? 

Jeremy Odom:

Never.

Bre Odom:

No. 

Derrick Michaud:

So tell me more about how you're working in this industry, air conditioning. Say that again. What was it? 

Jeremy Odom:

So air condition and appliances. And then I did like building maintenance and stuff throughout the years as well. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. So from the pre-interview that we met, COVID has a part in this, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. 

Derrick Michaud:

So and anyone that knows this show now knows this is not a political thing. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

We're not here to talk about vaccines and masks, right? But COVID is in any small business’s point of view interesting in the sense of how did people handle it. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

You guys, it basically catapulted you, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes. 

Derrick Michaud:

So what happens when COVID first hits for y’all? 

Jeremy Odom:

So basically, I was working for Bass Pro. I was doing building maintenance for Bass Pro. I got furloughed. The job came to me and said, hey, we got to let you go. They basically said 90 days for sure with the potential of us not bringing you back. So my first thought was, this isn't good. Having four kids, a wife, I was like, I've got to do something. So that summer, I started up the lawn service just to kind of make some extra money to get through the year. And then as we got closer to that 90 days, I started getting the feeling that I was going to go back. But I told her, I said, I don't want to be put in this situation again. I don't want it to be somebody else that determines whether we make ends meet. And I told her, I said, if we're going to do something, we need to do it.

Bre Odom:

He's always wanted to work for himself. 

Jeremy Odom:

Always. I mean I haven't struggled with working for people. It's hard to work with other people whenever you have supervisors that shouldn't be in those positions. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

So that that's something I've always struggled with. 

Derrick Michaud:

So leading up to when you made this decision, had you ever even in the slightest way ever been like a sole contractor or freelance anything where you were kind of on your own? Or were you always in like a W-4 type of job? 

Jeremy Odom:

So most of what I did was working for other companies, but I would do side work on my own. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

But not as much. I just did it for extra money. 

Derrick Michaud:

Just little side hustles here and there? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir.

Derrick Michaud:

So you were making this decision having never owned a business? 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. So what was that first step? So you realize this isn't going to happen. I'm not working for the man anymore. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Like what was that first idea you had? Was it candles immediately or was it something different? 

Jeremy Odom:

So here's the funny thing. The whole candles started, we were watching a movie one night, and we were watching a Hallmark movie. I'll admit it. It was during the holidays. 

Derrick Michaud:

Was there tissues laying around anywhere? 

Jeremy Odom:

For her maybe. Not for me. I was just watching it to make my wife happy. But anyway. So we're watching a Hallmark movie and then I looked on our table and there was this fancy jar that she had for decorations. And I was like, man, that'd be cool to make a candle. 

Bre Odom:

So then he started researching how to make candles. 

Jeremy Odom:

For like the next four hours, I just started watching YouTube videos and just started kind of seeing what all was involved in making candles. So then that night, I placed an order for material to start making candles. Little did I know, there's so much more to it. But that's where it started was watching a movie, seeing a bottle, and having an idea. 

Derrick Michaud:

So that's a quick turnaround. Like this might be a neat idea, YouTube, okay, I'm ordering supplies. 

Jeremy Odom:

That's me though. 

Bre Odom:

He’s a go-getter.

Jeremy Odom:

I'm spur of the moment. Like I don't make any decisions without praying or anything like that. But I'm also one of them, when I have an idea and I want to pursue it— 

Bre Odom:

He's going to go for it. 

Jeremy Odom:

I'd go for it. I'm not afraid to take chances. 

Derrick Michaud:

You absolutely need that to be a business owner, an entrepreneur, self-employed. You need that self-motivation. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right.

Derrick Michaud:

Because I'm the same way. I've been in various ways self-employed for a long time, and anytime I did have a normal job, it was like a wild dog in a cage. I couldn't handle it. But that's where the common threads lie though is if you're that way and then you decide you want to start your own thing, you don't need someone telling you what the next thing is to do. You go after it. 

Jeremy Odom:

Absolutely. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. So let's say Amazon is, Santa Claus coming in and giving you these candle accessories. What's the first thing you realize that you're like, oh, was it like what did I get myself into? You said it was a lot harder than you realized. What was that first—

Jeremy Odom:

The hardest part for me wasn't the business side of it. It was actually perfecting how to make them. 

Derrick Michaud:

Right. That's what I'm getting at. We're just talking about the candles right now. When you get all the supplies in and you're like, wow, this is real now. I got to make this thing. What was that first week, two weeks, what was that experience like? 

Jeremy Odom:

So I thought it was easy when we first started making them until we started doing the test batches. So when we first started making them, it's like, oh, this is nothing. They make it look easy. And then you start actually testing them and you realize, wow, I have no idea what I'm doing. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. So what is a bad candle? It just doesn't burn right? Doesn’t smell right? 

Jeremy Odom:

There's so, I mean, yeah, everything's—

Bre Odom:

You can have the wrong size wick. You can have too much scent. 

Jeremy Odom:

Everything that you just mentioned, yes. And more. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you can have one that's just too strong? 

Jeremy Odom:

You can have them too strong. You can have them where there's too much fragrance which makes the flames too big. You can have the wrong type of wax that makes it not put off smell. 

Bre Odom:

Certain wax and wicks go better together. 

Derrick Michaud:

Was there any point you almost burned your house down? 

Jeremy Odom:

No, thankfully. 

Derrick Michaud:

Too much fragrance in this one. The flame is hitting the ceiling. 

Jeremy Odom:

Look, we had to throw some boxes away. We'll say that. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

Definitely. 

Derrick Michaud:

How long do you think it took you to be confident and be like, yeah, I just made a great candle here? 

Jeremy Odom:

It took us eight months. 

Derrick Michaud:

Eight months? That is some determination. 

Jeremy Odom:

It took us eight months, and it took us almost quitting before we finally, like I had tried everything. Again, there's a lot to it. 

Derrick Michaud:

Eight months a long time. I mean I would have quit after a month. 

Jeremy Odom:

No, you got to think about it. We were also working jobs so it wasn't a full-time thing at that point. So it was kind of eight months periodically over time. 

Derrick Michaud:

But you've been furloughed by this time, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes.

Derrick Michaud:

So now you're just working other part-time jobs or just whatever. 

Jeremy Odom:

Well, so I was furloughed and then we started this during the furlough. So then after the 90 days, I did get to go back. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh, okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

So this was kind of part time and learning how to do it as I went back full time. 

Derrick Michaud:

Awesome. 

Jeremy Odom:

But during that eight months, we focused pretty heavily on getting it right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

And it took that long to finally get it right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Well, you planted the seed at the right time. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you were like, okay, we have our jobs now. We can fall back on that. 

Jeremy Odom:

Well, we never looked at it as a fallback. We looked at it as okay, this gives us six months to a year to figure out something because I knew at that point when I wanted to go self-employed, I was going to do something. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you're like, we made a candle. Now how do you how do you start producing on a mass level even before—we'll get to the store here. But from what I've gathered there was a moment where you were running a business out of your house, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes.

Derrick Michaud:

So even before that, even before thinking of how to sell these things, how do you go from one candle to making a hundred, right? 

Bre Odom:

Well, we were only able to make like four at a time in our house. 

Derrick Michaud:

That’s what I’m saying.

Bre Odom:

It wasn’t until we got in the store that we were able to make multiple at a time. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh, okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

It would literally, if we made, so when we’d go to shows, we would make like 100 candles at a time. It would take us four or five days to make enough candles to go to shows. That doesn't include labeling them. I mean we're talking four candles at a time. Each batch takes about an hour for four candles. I mean we were spending hours and hours. Thankfully, when we got in the store, we got some machines that made it a lot easier. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh, there you go. 

Jeremy Odom:

But at the house, it took a lot of time. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you said shows. Were you going to like farmers markets or trade shows? 

Jeremy Odom:

So we were going to A’Fair, Water Tower, several shows in Horn Lake. 

Bre Odom:

Flea market in Batesville. 

Jeremy Odom:

I mean we pretty much went everywhere that would accept us basically. 

Derrick Michaud:

Anyone that would let you come. 

Jeremy Odom:

Anybody that would let us come get our name out there is what we were doing. 

Derrick Michaud:

And are you going to be in the farmer's market this year? 

Jeremy Odom:

Hopefully. 

Derrick Michaud:

For context, it’s 2022. Who knows when someone's listening to this. 

Jeremy Odom:

So we have reached out, and if they have enough farmers sign up, I'm hoping we can get in. Right now, we're on a waiting list. But the plan is to get in there. 

Derrick Michaud:

I'll be out there. Hopefully, I'll see y'all. After I get my cucumbers, I'll come by and buy a candle. 

Jeremy Odom:

Sounds good. 

Derrick Michaud:

So how long is it that you're self-producing this stuff at home, small batch, if you will, and going to these trade shows? How much time was that? Was it a year that you were doing that or…? 

Jeremy Odom:

So we've been doing this about two and a half years. 

Derrick Michaud:

Before the store? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

So we're talking 2019-ish. 

Derrick Michaud:

Oh, that's right. I forgot COVID—

Jeremy Odom:

So COVID started it. So really we started pushing it heavy about eight months to a year after COVID. That's when we got it figured out. That's when we started realizing, okay, we've got something that is a good product. Until then, we couldn't push it. So we kind of had to get it right, and then we decided, hey, let's do this. 

Derrick Michaud:

So at the trade shows and the farmer's market and everything, you could tell people were interested. They're buying it up. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Did it start breaking into like word of mouth where now people are starting to call you like, hey? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah, very much so. 

Derrick Michaud:

Is that the spark that made you say, maybe we can get a store? 

Jeremy Odom:

Honestly, no. For me, it was after several shows, we would have people walk up to us and say, hey, I bought from y'all at this event, I bought from y'all at this show, and then they kept buying from us. So yes, we would have people reach out to us intermittently after each show. But when we would see many people walk up and say I've bought from y'all before and I love it, that is kind of what sparked, okay, hey, let's take this from just this event to now where we can make it accessible every day. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you have the thought but then you have to put pen to paper and really figure it out. What was your first step in moving forward on getting some kind of brick and mortar? 

Jeremy Odom:

Honestly, we don't know. I mean, again, we go back to the whole praying before we do everything. We were very close to being ready to be in a brick-and-mortar store but hadn't quite made that decision yet. So again, we did a bunch of prayer and everything before we decided to do anything. And right when we got ready, this store opened up. I mean it was literally a week before, we were like, hey, we're officially good to go. Let's start looking for a building. And then all of a sudden, boom, this store opened up. Like it was that quick. 

Derrick Michaud:

So this location just happened to free up? 

Jeremy Odom:

It did within a week from us saying we're ready to go. 

Derrick Michaud:

Were you already looking at this place or…? 

Jeremy Odom:

No. 

Derrick Michaud:

You just discovered, hey, a place opened up, let's go talk to them. 

Jeremy Odom:

Pretty much. I mean it was one of those where we had been talking about it, praying about it, saying, hey, if we're going to give this a shot, now is the time to do it. 

Bre Odom:

And we really wanted to be in here.

Jeremy Odom:

In Hernando.

Bre Odom:

Yeah.

Derrick Michaud:

Absolutely, yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

So we had been praying about it and it was like, hey, let's see if there's any stores available. And then right when we said, hey, it's time this building opened up. 

Derrick Michaud:

Building opened right up. And they let you in? 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. They approved you on the lease. That's awesome. 

Jeremy Odom:

It was very quick. 

Derrick Michaud:

Because I would gather a place can be open but they might not lease it to anybody, right? So what kind of process was that as far as…? 

Jeremy Odom:

Basically, there was a realtor that kind of oversaw for the managing partners and stuff here. So we went to him, and we had to apply for it and all that. Told him what we sold, told him what we did. And once we applied, he gave it to the managers or whatever, and they're like, hey, yeah, we’d like to have a candle and soap company here. And pretty much from there, it was as soon as we can get y’all the money, it was time to start. 

Derrick Michaud:

So when did you—we'll talk about the ribbon cutting and doors opened—but when did you start moving in? 

Jeremy Odom:

So we got this store what? October, middle October. And we came in, and we did all the renovations. We had some friends and family that came and helped put everything up, the wall up, the shelves up, paint the floors, paint the walls. It took us about three weeks to four weeks before we were like, hey, we're ready to go. And then we opened on Black Friday. 

Derrick Michaud:

So you mentioned you have a machine to help you? So in order to open up a store with shelves full of candles, did you get the machine first or was the first stocking of this store all small batch after small batch after small batch? 

Jeremy Odom:

Thankfully, we got the machine even though that got delayed about two weeks longer than it was supposed to. We got the machine about a week and a half before we were supposed to open. 

Derrick Michaud:

So the sweat starting to come down? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. It was getting chaotic. And thankfully, I had a—

Bre Odom:

We were here until like four in the morning one night. 

Jeremy Odom:

So the day before we opened, yeah, the day before, no, the day before we opened, we were here until 10. The night before, so we're talking Black Friday is what? The day after Thanksgiving? 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

So Thanksgiving night, we were here until 10. The day before Thanksgiving, we were here till 4 o'clock in the morning getting ready to open up. 

Derrick Michaud:

Because by now you've announced it, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Oh yeah. 

Derrick Michaud:

You have an announcement. You got the ribbon-cutting, the whole thing. 

Bre Odom:

We had three kids sleeping under our checkout desk. 

Jeremy Odom:

And we had one kid that we found a note she wrote, the oldest, Kaylee that's in middle school, she wrote a note, said, I'm never coming back here. Because I mean we were here all night. 

Derrick Michaud:

Man, the stress is on for sure. 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. Once you make the announcement, it's official. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah, absolutely. 

Jeremy Odom:

That's definitely the hard line in the sand right there. 

Derrick Michaud:

So up until the doors open, what was the funnest experience y’all had through that journey? 

Bre Odom:

It wasn't really fun. It was stressful. 

Derrick Michaud:

Stressful, yeah. 

Bre Odom:

But I think just being able to do it like as a family. Like have our kids up here. It's just nice to have the family involved. And my sister was up here helping us stock shelves and stuff. Just family. It was nice and fun to have that. 

Derrick Michaud:

And that's why Hernando’s so special because there's over a hundred places like this. It's so amazing in such a small area. And yeah, I mean in retrospect, you can be like, that was hard. But you can look at like this. But it's special. Can you guys sit back a little bit and appreciate yourselves? Like give yourself some credit on what you've accomplished? Because I know it's hard. It's hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes because you're always feeling like you're one bad sale away from failing or it's so risky. I mean small business is tough. But can you guys sit back and take a deep breath and be like, wow, we did this? 

Jeremy Odom:

I try to occasionally just to remind myself, but I also can't get in that mindset of letting that be normal. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

So we don't live far from here. We live like five minutes. So the first thing that hit me was when we drove, just going into the square down in Hernando Walmart or something, I saw our sign right above the doors. And it was just like, it's official. So for me, it was kind of at that moment. But I try not to live in that moment because there's a lot of work to do. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. You got to keep growing. And you guys grew at a fast pace relatively speaking in business. It went from a YouTube channel view to brick and mortar two years, two and a half years. 

Jeremy Odom:

Right. 

Derrick Michaud:

That's wild, man. Good for y'all. That's awesome. 

Bre Odom:

Thank you. 

Derrick Michaud:

So now you said you opened up the store Black Friday. So it was November. So just a few months in now. What has that experience been like now that you got this beautiful store? 

Jeremy Odom:

Thank you. It's a headache. It's fun. 

Derrick Michaud:

Is it too much fragrance that's giving you the headache? 

Jeremy Odom:

No, no, no. No, no. It's been fun. It's definitely been a blessing. And there's no complaints. It's just a fun ride definitely. The past two and a half, three months, there's a lot I've learned. There's a lot more to the business side than I thought. The government loves taxes. Seems like every time I turn around. But I can also say it's been a fun ride. It's had its ups and its downs. But it's had a lot more ups. 

Derrick Michaud:

I think that's the most courageous part of small business owners. You had the product, you had the passion, what you wanted to build and everything. But then all the business stuff is learn as you go, make mistakes. Like you said, taxes. Yeah. And I'm going through it too. When I started my LLC, there was so much I didn't know. But you learn quick, don't you? And I would dare say a better education than if you went to a business school. 

Jeremy Odom:

Absolutely. 

Derrick Michaud:

I’m sure that helps. Not disparaging going to college. But when your feet are in the fire— 

Jeremy Odom:

You either learn it or you don't. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

I mean it's, yeah, it's fun. 

Derrick Michaud:

So any catastrophe since opening the store? I know that sounds like negative? But any like oh my goodness moment? 

Jeremy Odom:

Not yet. 

Derrick Michaud:

I don’t want to jinx y'all. 

Jeremy Odom:

No. And I'm hoping that doesn't happen. But no, not yet. 

Derrick Michaud:

So what's the 10,000-foot view y'all have? Like still such a very young company, fresh store. What do these next few years look like for you? What do you have in mind for goals and where you'd like to be? 

Bre Odom:

Hopefully, have more than one store in different parts of Desoto County or even outside of Desoto County. 

Jeremy Odom:

That's the goal. 

Bre Odom:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

That's the plan. 

Derrick Michaud:

To have multiple stores. 

Jeremy Odom:

Realistically, first-year goal is to make sure this one sustains and does well enough. Second year is to kind of keep growing this one. Within five years, we'd like to have at least one or two more stores. 

Derrick Michaud:

And right now, it's just you two in the store, right? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yes, sir. 

Derrick Michaud:

So now after that, you guys get to experience the awesome process of hiring people and letting go. So let's talk about letting go because that's a big, that's a huge part as far as in my world being a business owner. In my field, I have to hire people in order to do what I need to do, and my experience was at first it's difficult letting go and trusting people. You guys thought about that at all? Like are you one to be easy to let go or is this going to be a challenge? 

Jeremy Odom:

I think it'll be easy for me because I'm not, like I have a really easy process of trusting people. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

Like you have to lose my trust, but you immediately have it from the very beginning. So for me, it's really easy to trust people. But I've also, one of my mindsets is you trust people based off—I'm trying to think. Like okay, when I was running the lawn service, I had a friend of mine that worked with us, and he told me that was probably his best boss he ever had which again I'll take that compliment. But he said one thing that he appreciated with the style kind of how I ran things, he's like, you don't put people in positions where they're going to fail. He's like you put, like for example, his situation, he couldn't do certain aspects of the job. So I put him where his strengths were. For me, it's really easy to trust people just because I trust them, and they have to mess that trust up. 

Derrick Michaud:

Being able to notice the strengths over the weaknesses, and we say weaknesses. We don't mean that someone's—

Jeremy Odom:

Everybody has a weakness. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. They just have stronger parts. We'll say that. And that's the sign of a true leader. Like well, this didn't work over here. But man, you'd be great over there, and you empower them and then now they're comfortable and have a sense of ownership. And then you can have someone that's going to work their tail off for you. 

Jeremy Odom:

I mean it's just like for us. She'll tell you all the time, she's the decorative designer of this. But I'm kind of the back behind the scenes person, the books, the business aspect of it. She's the one that created the design. We both put together the product. But I mean she has her strengths. I have mine. I have my weaknesses. Thankfully, she's strong in those where I'm weak. 

Bre Odom:

I couldn't do the business part. 

Jeremy Odom:

I can't either. 

Derrick Michaud:

You're figuring it out though, aren’t you? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah.

Derrick Michaud:

So if you were to start hiring, what would that look like? Would you want to bring someone in to just run register? Or like how does that work? 

Jeremy Odom:

That's where it would start. It would start with them running the register. And we want to keep it very family oriented. Obviously, our kids aren't old enough to run it. I mean ultimately that would be the plan is to have our kids running it. 

Derrick Michaud:

The oldest that said she never wanted to come back— 

Jeremy Odom:

She's been back. 

Derrick Michaud:

Is she okay now? 

Bre Odom:

Well, she don't like to come. 

Jeremy Odom:

She don't like to come.

Bre Odom:

She likes to be at the house in bed doing her own thing. 

Derrick Michaud:

And then you're going to be like, honey, we're actually going to pay you to go there now. 

Jeremy Odom:

She'll love to come. 

Derrick Michaud:

Okay. 

Jeremy Odom:

But she's still got several years. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah, yeah. Middle school's what? 12, 13? 

Jeremy Odom:

Yeah. She'll be 13 this year. So she still got a while. 

Derrick Michaud:

Was it 16? 

Jeremy Odom:

I believe so. 

Derrick Michaud:

16 years old. 

Jeremy Odom:

At that point, we'll start leaving her here, and we can start going on vacation. 

Derrick Michaud:

There you go. 

Bre Odom:

Just run the store while we're gone. 

Derrick Michaud:

And that's a big part of it too, being entrepreneurs and small business owners. You never get a break. 

Jeremy Odom:

Never. 

Derrick Michaud:

So scaling up can kind of force you because now you're hiring people and you're shoring it up that eventually you guys are going to be like, all right, we get to go somewhere for a week. And try not to get on the phone every 10 seconds to check in.

Jeremy Odom:

That's going to be an adjustment for me. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. 

Jeremy Odom:

That's going to be an adjustment for me. Like I don't micromanage, but I still like to know what's going on. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah, yeah. So Desoto County residents, Walls, Horn Lake, but now having how long—actually, let's start here. How long have you been living in Hernando now? 

Jeremy Odom:

Right at three years. 

Derrick Michaud:

Three years. And what made you want to move here? 

Jeremy Odom:

The schools. Having four kids and all of our kids being in schools, we had to go where there's a good education. 

Derrick Michaud:

That's why I'm here too. But I love the city. So let's get into that. Like what has Hernando felt like for y’all? What does it mean to you? 

Jeremy Odom:

Very welcoming. 

Bre Odom:

Yeah. And I like the small town feel. I mean it's very busy, but it still has that small town feel, like you don't feel like you're in a busy city. 

Jeremy Odom:

And everybody likes to see others succeed too. It's one of those, like where we're at, a lot of the neighbors are great, and they just go the extra mile for everybody. I mean we're in a place where you don't have to ask people for assistance because they're already assisting without having to ask. It's very family/friend oriented. A lot of the friends treat you like family. Like she said, it's really busy. It's a small town but it's not, but it has that small town feel.

Derrick Michaud:

Like I said, there's over a hundred small businesses in this small area that are all supported. So that adds that busyness. People are out here shopping. People are out here supporting. And when I first moved here, I mean I'd come to Hernando a lot over the years. But when I finally lived here and you start feeling what the local feels like, I'm like, this is so unique. And that's what really wanted me to start this podcast and everything because it's so different. 

Jeremy Odom:

It is. 

Derrick Michaud:

Than any other area especially in this county and really anywhere else. So. And I'm sure a lot of people are happy y’all are here. It smells amazing in here. 

Jeremy Odom:

Thank you. 

Derrick Michaud:

So please come check it out. Again, tell us where you're located. 

Jeremy Odom:

We're at 3016 Highway 51 South. We're in Suite 101. We're right next to J&J Gas Station right before Conger Park. 

Derrick Michaud:

Yeah. Easy to find. Nice big sign. So look, awesome meeting y'all. Thanks so much for letting me come into your store and interview and pepper you with these questions. 

Jeremy Odom:

Appreciate you. 

Derrick Michaud:

You guys did awesome. I know you guys are nervous on the front end. You guys crushed it. 

Jeremy Odom:

Thank you. 

Derrick Michaud:

Nicely done. 

Jeremy Odom:

In closing, I want to send a message to our listeners and viewers to please share this episode with someone that might be interested in not only listening to someone's story about how they started their business but they're just in this case a married couple and family business. So please share this. Where you can find this episode and the podcast as a whole is you can go to our website, TheRealHernando.com. There you can find us on YouTube, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, everywhere that you would find podcasts. And also, our social media, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook, both at The Real Hernando. Bre, Jeremy, thanks so much. 

Jeremy Odom:

Thank you.