Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Madison Baker: Growing up, I didn't really get a lot of time in actual production. That would be a big learning curve. I had to really learn the process of screen printing. And it's not just something you like to learn in a few weeks. And my, you know, main printer, Bobby, has been working for us for over 20 years and he's still. That's the biggest thing he says is like, you think you've learned it all and you haven't. There's always that one thing that once a week you're learning something, so.
[00:00:26] Taylor McAlpine: Hey, y', all, It's Taylor with Local LBK. Welcome to a new episode of In Good Company.
We are about to have a conversation with Madison Baker of California Tee's, a print shop over on 16th and University. You've probably seen it for decades. And we're excited to go behind the scenes hearing the story of how her dad started it, how Maddie got involved, and what you can expect from them moving forward. So tune in, enjoy the show.
Howdy, Maddie.
[00:00:57] Madison Baker: Hey, how are you doing? Well, this car is nice.
[00:01:00] Taylor McAlpine: Well, thanks for joining me.
[00:01:01] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:01:02] Taylor McAlpine: Have you been to the Audi dealership before?
[00:01:03] Madison Baker: You know, I have never been to the Audi dealership.
[00:01:05] Taylor McAlpine: Well, welcome. So it's part of the Caviter auto family. They're the sponsors for our podcast called In Good Company.
[00:01:11] Madison Baker: I'm excited. Thanks for being on. Yeah, for sure.
[00:01:15] Taylor McAlpine: So, fun thing about learning about all these new cars.
[00:01:18] Madison Baker: There's all these buttons, lots of buttons.
They're all really discreet too, aren't they?
Okay, what do they got over here?
[00:01:32] Taylor McAlpine: So what does a normal day in the life look like for you?
[00:01:35] Madison Baker: Oh, wow. Okay. So if there is such a thing, there's pretty normal. I mean, to a point. Most days are the same. Not really, but wake up kids. So pretty much, you know, seven to like 9:30 for me is kids getting ready out the door, morning routine, start stuff. So I kind of block my calendar for 7:30 to 9 and. Or 7, 9:30 and that's children.
And then trying to get to work by about 9:30 or 10 is realistic.
And I do all my hardest things in the morning. So a lot of emails. That's the stuff I don't like as much. A lot of admin.
And then I lunch for about an hour, got to make myself do that and then work in the afternoon. I try to be done by about 4.
I've noticed if I can be done by 4, pick up whatever said children or go home and kind of honestly start dinner at 4 o', clock, it makes the day very Good. So run.
[00:02:40] Taylor McAlpine: So much smoother.
[00:02:40] Madison Baker: So much smoother. And not starting dinner right after work whenever the kids are, like, hungry, and then by the time you're done with dinner, it's bedtime, and you're like, wow, I just saw them for two hours. So.
Yeah. But no, my days have changed drastically in the past six months with the newer baby.
But no, I have to really be organized and focus.
And I only now can take meetings, like, certain days of the week. So structuring my life has been a little bit more helpful, but still trying to figure that out. That's kind of my 2026 situation.
[00:03:11] Taylor McAlpine: Oh, love it.
[00:03:12] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:03:13] Taylor McAlpine: Something you're talking about already is the amount of structure and organization you have to provide for yourself. But a lot of people consider what you do creative work.
[00:03:20] Madison Baker: Yeah, for sure.
[00:03:21] Taylor McAlpine: So is it hard juggling both brains?
[00:03:23] Madison Baker: Yes, I. It's very hard. You can do, like, you know, both things but not well at both. And so a lot of my creative side has to take a backseat just to run a business.
This year, my goal was to structure my life where it was really like, my calendar is so aggressive, but, like, whenever that goes off, like, 10 minutes before, it's like, okay, like, nope, we pivot, go elsewhere, do your other thing.
But I wanted to focus on that. One of my really key accounts. And then I really wanted to focus on my retail, which is the creative side of the business. But it's really hard for me to go back and forth.
The brain of retail versus running the business and stuff is not. It's hard, for sure.
[00:04:04] Taylor McAlpine: Well, I'm going to use that as a segue.
[00:04:06] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:04:06] Taylor McAlpine: Tell us a little bit about California Tees. What is it? How did you get involved? How to get started?
[00:04:10] Madison Baker: Yeah. So California Tees is a custom screen printing, embroidery shop. Just a customer apparel shop, I guess you could say. And my dad started the business 50 years ago this year.
So we're celebrating 50 years this year, which is crazy. I know.
And we do. I mean, just standard T shirts would be the most basic thing we do. But I feel like we're like a creative solution in the apparel world.
We service a lot of people on a local level, so it's a lot of folks that can just walk in and get help.
I think what we do to us is really straightforward and we understand it, but it's a lot of jargon that people don't know. And I think people look at something and want to make it into their own, but don't know where to start. And so being able to physically come to the shop is super helpful, but our world is like, what I think is just no big deal. 7 color t shirt design.
It's a lot.
Um, so really just taking people's ideas and bringing them to life is what we do every day.
[00:05:14] Taylor McAlpine: How fun.
[00:05:14] Madison Baker: Yeah, it's super fun.
[00:05:16] Taylor McAlpine: And then tell us a little bit more about the early days.
[00:05:19] Madison Baker: Yeah. So Steve started it in 1976. He was inspired by a trip to California.
And I think. And I even asked him about it this morning when I was dropping off my son at his house. I was like, okay, so, like, what's the heart and soul of this? Like, why did you do it? And he just wanted to, no matter what, work for himself.
He came from his dad working for himself. His mom had her own business as well as my parent or my mom, like, her dad owned his own business. So a lot of entrepreneurial spirits going on.
But he wanted to have something that he could show up and do every day that he really had fun doing and just really never dreaded going to work. Of course, there's stuff like, you know, that you don't love. And when sales are low, you're kind of like, wow, I hate this. Why am I doing it?
But, you know, 90% of the time, you can really go in and have, like, a lot of fun being there and enjoying what you do.
That's what he said. He's like, my young. My advice for young people is just to like what you do every single day.
[00:06:22] Taylor McAlpine: I love that.
[00:06:22] Madison Baker: Yeah. Because there's a lot of days where he just won't.
[00:06:24] Taylor McAlpine: So was he always in that one location?
[00:06:28] Madison Baker: So he had a smaller just storefront for maybe a year on 19th Street. And I don't even think that building exists. It might have been, like, really near McDonald's, but he had some family that owned the strip of commercial property where we are. And so him and his brother went in on the property we're still at today. And California Teas was the front half, and then the plant company was the back half.
[00:06:54] Taylor McAlpine: Okay.
[00:06:55] Madison Baker: And in time, I think they both grew up and needed more production space. And so his brother Robin moved out and dad expanded to the back of the building.
So. Yeah.
[00:07:06] Taylor McAlpine: And if I remember you telling the story, it used to be a car
[00:07:08] Madison Baker: wash. Used to be a car wash. Yeah. You can tell still if you walk in.
Used to be a car wash that his family member owned. And I actually think now, can you imagine a car wash there now? It'd be the biggest disaster.
But yeah. So he really started the business by doing, like, heat transfers. You know, when you go to California or like a beach town and they're like, hey, I want that on this shirt or whatever. You pick it out.
Yeah, Right in front of you. Print it on site. People could see it.
And then just started getting a lot of ask for custom work. And so he had to learn how to screen print. And someone that. I always forget what company it was that owned a printing company like Mora Paper, had a screen print manual press and taught him how to do it. And so it became that for. Well, it's gone up and down with a bunch of different things, but still the main heart of it is custom screen printing.
[00:08:02] Taylor McAlpine: Love it.
[00:08:02] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:08:03] Taylor McAlpine: Did your dad have an art background? No, not at all. Okay.
[00:08:06] Madison Baker: No, I think not necessarily artistic, but he has really good style. And I would say he's got an eye. Like. I would say him and I kind of are similar in that way. Like, we probably both can't draw and, like, do any type of, like, I'm not really good at Illustrator or hand drawing anything, but we both have, like, a good style and a good eye for something.
You'll see him Today, like, he's 80 years old and he's wearing kind of like an outfit like you have on. Like, he dresses, like, really, really well. Still love it.
[00:08:38] Taylor McAlpine: I was about to say, I probably need to take notes from that.
[00:08:40] Madison Baker: Yeah, no, he looks really cool all the time. So the business also keeps you young. It's that type of business, so.
[00:08:47] Taylor McAlpine: Love it.
[00:08:48] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:08:48] Taylor McAlpine: How. What was it like growing up in the business?
[00:08:51] Madison Baker: Growing up in the business, it was good. I mean, I don't think I even knew how cool it was or could have been until I was about 15, when I started working there for real.
My church did, I think, like a match program to go on a mission trip. They were like, if you make X at whatever, then someone at the church will match what you make at your job and pay to go to Belize, I believe. So me and my friend Julia started doing that. And that's whenever I think having her with it with me there too made me realize how this place could be cool.
But no, I grew up there. Like, if I was sick, I was at work with my parents.
[00:09:26] Taylor McAlpine: Like, you didn't get a ride at home watching tv?
[00:09:28] Madison Baker: I didn't have a lot of babysitters. I didn't have grandparents locally, but I was really with my parents all the time. And now I bring my daughter to work and I'm like, wow, that's literally crazy that you brought Me here because I can't keep her occupied. But they would give me a lot of busy work and I'd space hangers and do stuff like that. But both my parents were in the business. And so, you know, you're with your mom all the time, and so you do. You do what they do.
But I don't know. I. I feel like I wish I could remember more. Do you ever feel like that? Oh, totally, yeah. I'm like, I don't know. I remember some.
[00:10:02] Taylor McAlpine: The funny glimpses of like, oh, I remember that from first grade.
[00:10:05] Madison Baker: Or I don't have a lot of those. I don't know. I think I have brain fog now with the kids.
[00:10:09] Taylor McAlpine: But maybe as we'll do that.
[00:10:12] Madison Baker: Yeah, babies have done that for sure. But no, growing up in it was really fun. I mean, you know, we always were the ones doing the T shirts for my school activities.
If you're. If you're, you know, you're the T shirt girl, like, just what you are. Like, I've been T shirt chair for every organization I've been in, like, every year. You know, just how it is.
But no, I don't know. It just was really second nature.
Didn't even think much of it.
[00:10:34] Taylor McAlpine: Well, and with that, was there ever a chance for you not to do this?
[00:10:38] Madison Baker: Yeah, for sure.
Well, I did not want anything to do with Lubbock, Texas, you know, stayed here for college and just thought I was too cool, needed to get out afterwards.
And I went to college for. I wanted to be an event planner. So I did the restaurant hotel track. And I love the restaurant hotel world hospitality. I think it's just like, one of the coolest industries ever.
And I moved to North Carolina after college with Chris, and he had a golf course job.
And I just was like, I'll take whatever job. I was stuffing mailers at US Foods as a temp. Like, I had no idea what I was doing. I got a job at the Omni and worked there for about one month. And I was like, I actually hate this so much. And something I've learned about myself, it's either I'm all in or I'm all out, you know, And I can't fake it.
I think a lot of people would just do it to, like, make their resume better and, like, stick it out.
[00:11:35] Taylor McAlpine: And that just what helped you realize that, though.
[00:11:37] Madison Baker: Oh, my gosh. Just standing there was horrible. Having to be. It was front desk. And so the Omni is a cool hotel. And, like, they'd have some cool people come in and out of it. But I saw the guy that ran the events at the hotel and he was about 50 something years old. And I thought to myself, I cannot wait that long to do this. I'm 22, so like, what do I know? But you know, you're super eager when you're young. And so I got a job.
I used my sorority connections like alumni and I got a job at a catering company and really just like admin of it. And then worked my way up and ran the weddings side of their business and then did some of the corporate events. And then I went to work for a competitor, which was crazy. I know, that's crazy. It was like the most nerve wracking thing I've ever had to do. But it was for the best. And it was the best.
I stirred the pot for sure.
Luckily, I mean, I still, you know, keep in touch with my first boss. She was a great mentor, but she wasn't scaling and I needed to learn something new. And so I got a job doing the corporate events for another catering company.
And it was just like my favorite job. Almost my favorite job I've had. Probably because the way you described it,
[00:12:50] Taylor McAlpine: it was a pretty big operation.
[00:12:52] Madison Baker: Yeah, it was a huge operation.
My budget alone was about $4 million a year to hit. And so we would do huge corporate events.
Charlotte had like tons of corporate headquarters, banking headquarters and stuff. And so corporate budgets are super fun, especially back then.
And it's just like, hey, like we have X, Y, Z to spend. And yeah, it's a catering company, but the caterer does so much. They lean on you to do, you know, food, beverage plus rentals, plus decor, plus this. And, and so it was much more than just like, hey, what kind of like buffet do you want? So it was my, it was a creative job, but it, I also was very heavily sales focused and had very aggressive goals. And it was a big sales culture.
And that taught me a lot.
[00:13:35] Taylor McAlpine: Overall, I believe it.
[00:13:37] Madison Baker: Yeah, so I learned pretty much everything. I. Not everything, but at least on the sales and marketing side of life, that's where I learned all that.
[00:13:45] Taylor McAlpine: And then eventually you landed back here.
[00:13:47] Madison Baker: And then I came back here. Well, I asked my dad about that. I was like, did you call me? And he's like, no, you called me. You.
I think.
I don't know. There's like a point where maybe we're trying to figure out if we wanted to live there longer or renew our lease. And we were like, okay, like we're 20, I don't even know how old I was 27, 28.
Want to buy house? You know, that'd be cool. And you're looking in like, Charlotte, North Carolina, and the condo apartment that's like 800 square feet is like, you know, at the time, almost 10 years ago, like 200 or 300, $400,000. And you're like, well, that seems expensive.
Then you start looking at the Lubbock Trulia, and you're like, okay, that 300,000
[00:14:29] Taylor McAlpine: goes a long way.
[00:14:29] Madison Baker: You get a big old house.
Yeah. So that sparked an interest, and it really was like a, hey, do this. Or like, you're just going to keep living there because eventually you guys are going to want to have kids. You know, we're later to the game, I guess, maybe, but once your friends start having kids and like, that happens, you're like, wait, I want to do that, But I do not want to do that this far away.
And I think my parents, too, in 2018 were kind of. I don't know, I feel like. I don't know what happened in 2018. I feel like the Internet was just changing the world more, you know, in like, keeping up with the modern day stuff. My parents were just like, we're getting too old for this.
So, yeah, if you want to come run it, you're going to have to come back soon or we might sell this place. Because people are constantly coming by and being like, hey, we'd like to offer you whatever money for this property.
And I'm sure that would be enticing when you're. My dad's like, 70 something. He's like, I'm like, it keeps me young, but I'm tired of being responsible. So moved back in 2019 and started the journey to take it over.
Yeah.
[00:15:34] Taylor McAlpine: So it feels like it's been nonstop ever since.
[00:15:37] Madison Baker: Yeah, it's been nonstop, minus, like, I don't know, we stopped in Covid. So that was. That was a stop.
[00:15:43] Taylor McAlpine: How did you navigate it?
[00:15:44] Madison Baker: Oh, it was horrible. I remember just March. Oh, I don't even know, probably March 13th or something.
Kind of like a. Oh, hey. Cash flow literally just stopped.
Events stop, which means T shirts stop. People can't come to your store.
[00:16:01] Taylor McAlpine: And so that's how dependent y' all were on other activities happening in the community, for sure.
[00:16:05] Madison Baker: So community activities, events, you know, tech shuts down, going online, all the things.
And so we literally just came to a halt.
We made payroll. I'm so glad that I had a small team at the point. That point, like, today would be a much harder situation. But we had A very small team. Obviously, anyone part time, we had to let go. That was more so just our college kids. And they went home anyway.
And so it was scary. I remember having those conversations with, like, my dad and my grandfather, like, okay, do we need to get people involved? Like, what are we going to do?
And then luckily, there was some good government programs for payroll within Texas and, you know, federally.
And then the big. Whatever bill. Not bill. What was it called? The big loan they put out.
[00:16:55] Taylor McAlpine: Is it the idle one?
[00:16:56] Madison Baker: I don't know. But they did a huge loan for small businesses to get by, and that actually helped us invest, like, get a good rate for some capital and invest in some stuff. So that was great. That was through the Small Business Administration, I believe, and we really did well. And then I ended up having one of my customers just happen to secure a deal with Texas Tech that needed to be a good sponsor. And so I had to fill all these orders in 2020. And so that grew. And so my sales actually didn't decline. They grew in that year, which I couldn't be more thankful for. Cause that's always a kind of moment where Chris, like, him and I always go back and forth about, you know, like, I'd love to work at California Teas. That seems great. I think you and I could probably, like, double the operation, if not more.
But whenever you have those moments, like seeing the pandemic and that would be both of our income, it's kind of like, okay, maybe not.
[00:17:54] Taylor McAlpine: Yeah, so all your eggs in one basket.
[00:17:56] Madison Baker: All your eggs in one basket. So we. We do enjoy his job for lots of other things, but no, it's. Yeah, 2020 was crazy. But after that, after the world recovered, we.
It's been up from there. I mean, I don't know. I always wonder, like, local economy, it drives us a lot, but overall, it's good.
I don't know, though. We push a lot, and every year we've. We've just been able to grow so much because there's a lot to grow. You know, you take a business that's been run 40 years one way, you come in and do something different. There's positive results, typically.
[00:18:34] Taylor McAlpine: I was going to ask, what were some of the changes you implemented?
[00:18:37] Madison Baker: Yeah. What are some of the challenges? You had challenges every day. And the biggest change was this is crazy because it was 2019.
I'm like, is that right? 2019? Yeah. I took them from a handwritten invoice to a system that we still use today.
And I asked my dad today if there was Much resistance with it.
He was like, yeah. I mean, he basically was just like, I'm not going to learn it. You know, like, this is. I'm good.
[00:19:04] Taylor McAlpine: Like, I'll pass you my paper invoice for you to put it.
[00:19:07] Madison Baker: Yes, for sure. And that's how it was. Like, my dad, whenever I started back, he was kind of at the head seat, and I was just, like, at this, like, makeshift desk that, like, made myself room on my little laptop because there wasn't even, like, a computer there for me. You know, like, everyone that had a computer had one. There wasn't just extra computers or, like, working space. I don't know.
And that was May. So about two, three months in, I was like, we've gotta. Like, this is crazy.
And I was just worried because I remember growing up in college or working there in college and getting, like, the sales tax incorrect and having to, like, do it on a calculator and it being wrong and my dad being, like, angry. He's like, you can't do that. I'm like. He's like, take your time.
[00:19:48] Taylor McAlpine: Consequences for that.
[00:19:49] Madison Baker: He's like, slow down and take your time. And I'm. I'm not that person. Or I wasn't then. I've gotten better as I get older now.
[00:19:55] Taylor McAlpine: Your software tells you and probably does it for you, maybe.
[00:19:57] Madison Baker: I know. We trust, you know, we're millennials. We trust software probably way too much. Way too much. We trust. Probably trust AI way too much.
But that, I mean, that alone just pushed the sales. You can sell, like, sell so much more, you know, if you just give people a quote and you can do it fast. You don't handwrite it, scan it, fax it. It's crazy.
[00:20:16] Taylor McAlpine: Do you still have a fax machine?
[00:20:17] Madison Baker: No, I got rid of it, actually. Like, that was something. And I don't know, my dad said that there was some resistance with what I wanted to do, but I don't remember it. I mean, him and I definitely had some, like, disagreements. And he's always, always telling me my whole life to be more patient and, you know, don't get in such a hurry. Everything will come. It'll happen.
Is that just his personality or did
[00:20:40] Taylor McAlpine: he have to learn it?
[00:20:40] Madison Baker: No, he had to learn it. Him and I are the exact same.
So he's just, like, seeing a younger version of himself, probably.
But, you know, with age comes more patience because you have no choice.
You can't do it all at one time. That's what I've learned.
[00:20:56] Taylor McAlpine: So what's the family dynamic Been like of. He's still involved to some degree.
[00:21:00] Madison Baker: To some degree. So, you know, when I started working there, my mom worked there and that was a pretty fast something I wanted to not have have.
I just wanted to be able to have like a mom as a mom, you know, and knowing that dad would phase out, but he'd have to be there longer and she really needed to do her own thing. Like she married my dad and went straight working into the business and so she went back to college. When I went back to college and got her degree, her and I graduated on the same day.
[00:21:28] Taylor McAlpine: How cool.
[00:21:30] Madison Baker: And hadn't really done anything with her degree yet. And so when I came back, I think she felt like she could go do something. And so she got her real estate license and really just like kind of like flourished and was like, peace out.
She likes to tell people I fired her, but it was for the best. And now she can, she can be my mom. And it's not like, I don't know, it's hard to see people you're really close with every single day and work with them. But he, I mean, the phase out was really like gradual, but he's pretty phased out now.
[00:22:03] Taylor McAlpine: Because it was what, this year that you kind of finalized things?
[00:22:06] Madison Baker: Yeah. Was this year the official year or no? I think last year was the first year. Yeah. That I would be majority owner at least that was what, a five year timeline? Yeah, pretty much. And I ran it and made a lot of the executive decisions. He definitely was more advising for a long time.
Now he does advise a little bit. Maybe Sometimes I like want him to advise more. He's just like, well, no, it's your thing. So I don't know, he's kind of just more of my. I like to call him the on the payroll babysitter. You know, he used to be an errand boy. Now he doesn't do as much of that anymore.
[00:22:42] Taylor McAlpine: But work provided retirement plan.
[00:22:44] Madison Baker: Yes, pretty much. And so he watches the kids and I don't know. He's having way more fun doing that
[00:22:50] Taylor McAlpine: than living his best life.
[00:22:52] Madison Baker: Yeah, for sure.
[00:22:52] Taylor McAlpine: Good.
So with that, how's it been for you taking on the new responsibilities?
[00:22:59] Madison Baker: It's been crazy. I feel like I have no time.
I think I'm like, man, should I have done this before I had kids?
Because I feel like I really could have done it, but I don't know, I have to be kind of patient with myself and give myself like a day to day. Do the best you can, especially in this time of life.
That's one thing I always tell my dad probably when I get more frustrated and stressed about something is, you know, he was a dad and he was a great parent but he wasn't the mom and moms have a lot of responsibility and so doing that and running a business is just very hard.
So I still adjusting to it all and will be probably for a while.
[00:23:41] Taylor McAlpine: So what have you learned through that experience?
[00:23:44] Madison Baker: Probably my time management.
If I'm like at work I really have to like get it done. Like there's no time to mess around.
There's no time in general. So I think once my youngest one will sleep through the night, I can redo my schedule to be able to like wake up even earlier and get a lot of stuff done. Like I do that if he sleeps through the night occasionally and if I can just do that it might just be like one hour. But like, oh, that'd be a game changer. It's a game changer. I'll occasionally do like a Sunday afternoon when the kids take a nap. I'll go to like the store and work for like two hours. And if I can do that, it sets my week up for like fire.
[00:24:24] Taylor McAlpine: Oh, uninterrupted work.
[00:24:25] Madison Baker: Uh huh.
So I really have to prioritize like just everything in a different way and like lower your expectations. Like be reasonable.
Yes, you want to grow. Yes, we want to do this. But you also have, it's just baby steps constantly. So.
But yeah, kids will do that to you. They make you have to re. Rethink everything and work better, work smarter.
[00:24:50] Taylor McAlpine: Has that been a hard thing of. In a sense you're sacrificing growth by prioritizing family.
[00:24:55] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:24:55] Taylor McAlpine: Of that tug of war.
[00:24:57] Madison Baker: Yes. Every day in my head. Because I would love, I mean I like working and it's probably been good though because I can set some boundaries. But you do feel bad. Like you know, have you seen that video? It's like small business owners like are like texting like they're in a toxic relationship and they like pan to them and they're just like so deep in something like whenever like issues come up or like even a customer just like being upset with something. It might be 7pm But I'm like, I want to address this right now because it's like my business and I care and stuff but I also don't want to be the mom that's on the phone, you know, when your kids are home.
So it's a lot of that.
But I don't know, I just have to Give myself like a bunch of grace all the time. I'm like, okay, this is just like such a season of small kids and like, no matter what in life, like they're way more important than my business ever could be.
[00:25:46] Taylor McAlpine: But knowing the rules of the game and you're defining it.
[00:25:49] Madison Baker: Yeah. Knowing the rules of the game and just trying to do your best. But then you also, like, you know, you have other people's livelihoods you're responsible for as well. And so you think of, you know, them and their family. Like they're half the income, you know, of their family. And they work for me. So it's my responsibility too. So it's hard to.
Hard to balance for sure.
[00:26:10] Taylor McAlpine: Well, if it's all right with you, we're actually coming close on the exit. Mind if we go a couple more?
[00:26:14] Madison Baker: Sure.
[00:26:15] Taylor McAlpine: Love it.
Go for it. Gotta stay hydrated.
So with that, you were leading into your team.
[00:26:23] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:26:24] Taylor McAlpine: What does the company look like now? And Future Park? Where are you headed?
[00:26:28] Madison Baker: What do we look like now? So I have about eight to nine employees, some part time. I feel like we're in a pretty sweet spot right now with my employees. I've had everyone that's worked there with the exception of some, you know, part time tech girls have been there at least two to three years.
[00:26:48] Taylor McAlpine: Is that uncommon for the industry?
[00:26:49] Madison Baker: No, I just think I had trouble in the beginning getting like the right groove, the right people hired. That was a huge learning curve for me, was hiring and it still is like my least favorite hiring and firing. You know, it's like not the skill set that I necessarily have. I understand why there's outsourced HR and staffing companies, but one thing we did about three years ago is have someone come in because I knew we were growing, but I was like, okay, I don't have any like industry formal training outside of growing up. Let's get some. So we brought some guys in and they kind of evaluated the business and they're much more on a production side of screen printing and kind of said, hey, these are your holes. These are positions that you need that are going to make you much more efficient and make you able to grow.
[00:27:36] Taylor McAlpine: Yeah.
[00:27:36] Madison Baker: So taking jobs.
So the biggest job that we brought on that we just weren't focusing on because it's kind of like, I don't know, it's kind of the dirtiest job back there is cleaning screens and burning screens.
And that was just kind of a part time college kid role I had for someone to come in and do and kind of like Learned that's probably one of the most important jobs that we have, is setting these screens up to be printed. So we made a formal job of, like, a screen tech. We raised the salary of it, and we got like, a really good techie guy that does it. And it. That was like, step one in getting everything nailed in and dialed in.
So growing up, I didn't really get a lot of time in actual production.
It was a little segregated boys versus girls. It seemed the girls were always up front doing the. Doing the cleaner work. But that would be a big learning curve. I had to really learn the process of screen printing. And it's not just something you can learn in a few weeks.
And we still learn every day. I mean, my, you know, main printer, Bobby, has been working for us for over 20 years, and he's still. That's the biggest thing he says, is, like, you think you've learned it all and you haven't. And, like, you just one day, some, you know, we can order 5,000 different brands of T shirts, so one shirt's going to be a different print than the other. And, like, I don't know, there's a lot of consistencies and there's a lot of processes you can do to make the outcome nine times out of 10. But there's always that one thing, that once a week, we're learning something so well.
[00:29:17] Taylor McAlpine: And imagine for a role like that, being around 20 years, you have to be a constant learner.
[00:29:21] Madison Baker: Yeah. I mean, we had a lot of change. Like, we threw so much change of Bobby. It's amazing that he's, like, still there and happy, but he's just a company guy.
And that's what I learned, too, with hiring, is that they have to be company people, and they've, you know, they've got to, like, be proud to work there and, like, want to work there. And I feel pretty genuine about everyone that works there, like, wants to move the needle forward.
And I don't know, it's just. It's a good vibe.
[00:29:53] Taylor McAlpine: What is the culture? What is the vibe?
[00:29:54] Madison Baker: It's really fun.
It's fun. It's chaotic. Sometimes we call it, like, I don't know, it's like arts and crafts. Like, it's like, you know, it's just something new. Like today we're trying to apply a PVC patch to a sweatshirt. We haven't done that maybe two years. So it's like, I don't actually remember how to do it. It's not working, you know, and so it's always arts and crafts, trying to like figure something custom out for the one offs and stuff like that. But it's fun. I mean it's definitely like high expectations as far as like production and efficiency and quality.
And so I kind of run more so the sales side of it all in my girls. I'm like, your job affects everyone here. You know, like if we're, if you're not selling, then we're not working. So you have to know the ecosystem of the company.
Those guys in the back, if they see you lollygagging around, they're wondering why, like why do I get to leave early today? Oh, I have less hours because we're not selling. So try to teach the team to offload my responsibility. In my head I'm like, yeah, you work here, but you chose to work at a small business and there's a lot of responsibility that goes into that.
[00:31:04] Taylor McAlpine: Wear a couple extra hats usually.
[00:31:05] Madison Baker: Yes, couple, oh for sure. Or extra hats. We have in the past few years though, there's a lot less of that, which is good. Like people are more specialized because I think it's a good like you know, you can be 60% specialized or maybe 70% specialized, 30% cross train. Kind of just gotta cross train it and figure it out when you're in a small business. I'd love if we all kept to our rules, but I think that'd be pretty boring as well. And it causes people to not be involved in other sides of it too. And kind of being like, well that's not my job and that doesn't work for us.
[00:31:36] Taylor McAlpine: So gotta be a team. Blur.
[00:31:38] Madison Baker: Yeah, so really good team. Kind of don't want to hire for a long time, you know, feel like I'm good for a while.
[00:31:44] Taylor McAlpine: So you've been growing year over year. You've got a team where you need it to be. So what's next?
[00:31:48] Madison Baker: I have no idea.
I don't know. I think we're still in a growth new side of business type thing. Like you know, we took on the promo world of things last year really hard and I think we could double that this year because it's still so new.
I mean I'm sure there's some like things I have goals to do, but I don't know, I kind of just want to like work in the business this year and just be in it, you know, I'm not pregnant this year. That whole, I mean being a.
Yeah, that is just the biggest part. You know, it's like, hey, it's a different year because whenever you're like super pregnant all year, you know, you can only do so much. So I'm kind of looking forward to being back in the business. Both kids are going to be in a full time child care situation come fall.
So I'm really excited to like be there and work in it, you know, Like I actually like going in to work every single day and being there and like working with my team and working with customers. I have to hide sometimes because I love working with customers. But if I did that all day I would get nothing important done. But I genuinely, yeah, I like, I literally love like when people come in and they like have a problem or like they don't know how to do what they want to do.
And like we're the people that know it. Like, especially me. I'm like, I can definitely get this done for you, you know, and make it really good. So I think that's part of like the event planning execution mind I have. I'm like, okay, we can make you have this logo that's horrible quality. We can make it into something and we can make it into something that maybe you can sell like, you know, so in my ideal world, I'd run the business.
I'd get to help customers when they come in to a point. You don't want me too involved in that stuff because I'm sure fire the one that's going to be like, oh yeah, we can totally do that. And my team's like, no, we can't do that. And I'm like, are you sure?
And then work on like the real
[00:33:44] Taylor McAlpine: that's been going around of we'll get it done somehow. And then pointing to the somehow.
[00:33:48] Madison Baker: Oh yeah. And I'm not the somehow anymore. Sometimes I get involved in stuff and I'm like, never mind guys. Like y' all figure this out. Like it's not going to help anyone if I'm responsible for this. But I don't know, I'd like to kind of just continue in the direction we're going, but I don't know, I think the opportunity is just so vast and I've said that since the beginning. It's kind of hard to know where to hone in on because everyone could use T shirts, you know, like genuinely everyone wears them, everyone wears them, everyone needs them.
And we can print for the masses or we can have our little niche too, you know, like, yeah, we can. I'd love a good, you know, roofing company order with 200 T shirts that just say like crew or something. But I also love a Super custom. Like let's put a placement everywhere and match every custom pantone here and there. So the future would just be me working in the business and like figuring it out more for a little bit.
[00:34:48] Taylor McAlpine: And then since it's a two generation family business, how has the industry changed?
[00:34:55] Madison Baker: Well, kind of what we were talking about earlier, I think there's a lot of people that don't print for themselves anymore. And I think back in the day that might have been a factor for customers.
Oh, you don't do your production in house? Oh, I don't like that. You know, nowadays I don't think people care as much.
[00:35:15] Taylor McAlpine: And there are deliverable.
[00:35:16] Madison Baker: They want the deliverable, they want that. They're like, I don't care how it gets done, but I just want it done type thing.
And so I've heard a bunch of companies starting as more of like a sales company that sells screen printed T shirts versus trying to learn screen printing, which back in the day it would basically start in your garage. You're like, oh, I want to print T shirts because my friend's in a band, I'm in a band, I'm on a baseball team. These T shirts are too expensive. I'm getting quoted. I can't afford anything. Let me just learn how to do it real fast. And so a lot of garage printers did that and scaled it up and got good at printing because they had to learn how to manually print. I mean that's a huge thing that's changed is screen printing started by hand and now it's pretty automated into machine.
We still do.
Not as much as we did in the beginning. When I came back, the manual printing, it's pretty much all automated to our auto machine.
But we take our live press out and still kind of show the art of what it is. Because it is art, it is a craft. I think people forget that especially whenever your T shirt just says crew. You know, just like, hey, it's neon yellow crew shirt. That doesn't look hard.
I think people compare it to printing something out like on a like printer,
[00:36:27] Taylor McAlpine: you know, if you can get a printer to work.
[00:36:28] Madison Baker: But yeah, yeah, no, that's actually harder. I'd rather manually print T shirts than work with any printer from the computer.
[00:36:34] Taylor McAlpine: Right.
[00:36:34] Madison Baker: Like there's never a time where my printer works, but that's a whole other story.
[00:36:39] Taylor McAlpine: But the on site printing, I feel like that's letting y' all branch into the whole events experience brand activation side of things. So.
[00:36:46] Madison Baker: So kind of one of the advices I received from the Company that came in and just evaluated what we were doing was like, hey, you're at a college town, you should probably do this. And no one's doing it locally still. No one's really doing it. There's like maybe one other just, you know, single dude that does it.
And so that's just been fun. It's kind of like scratched the itch of my event planning and it's been really good just because there is budget out there for people to bring in experiences.
And we haven't even really, probably exploited it as much as I'd like to, but we have it nailed down really well and so we can be hired within a week or two, come out print T shirts. It's a whole experience. So that's been a really cool part. But yeah, the industry's changed. It's been so automated and it was such a craft and much more of an artistic thing in the beginning. And it's different now for sure. I mean, there's. You get both of the. You get both, but it's just changed. And like I told you, like, if you're not good at printing, people aren't printing. They're just outsourcing it because it is a headache and it is. It takes a lot of labor to hone it in and there's tons of automations that they've created for it. But at the end of the day, it's still, you know, a process, but everything's changed. It's constantly changed, constantly behind.
[00:38:06] Taylor McAlpine: Is there anything you're excited about in upcoming changes?
[00:38:10] Madison Baker: I would really like in the next year to buy a larger embroidery machine.
That is something that wasn't a priority, obviously, being a screen printing company and we run a pretty small operation or at least a small amount of machines for what we probably output.
So that would be like one of my big goals for probably this year is to acquire a handful of customers that could support that.
[00:38:36] Taylor McAlpine: Okay.
[00:38:38] Madison Baker: Really needing some hat customers.
Ag, The AG customer. Oil. We'll take an oil customer. They love hats. So that's something I'd like to do because that's a whole side of the business that could grow and it just hasn't.
It's a little step childish, but I try to, I try to remember it. It's just hard.
[00:39:02] Taylor McAlpine: Well, from there, I mean, naturally as an owner, you're going to focus on the things you love and enjoy and so have to give the whole entity.
[00:39:10] Madison Baker: I know in the things I. I understand more, but I don't know, it's really hard to operate a Screen printing company and not offer embroidery, you know.
[00:39:18] Taylor McAlpine: So do customers expect it at this point?
[00:39:20] Madison Baker: Yeah, they expect everything. And we want to. We want to sell them everything.
[00:39:23] Taylor McAlpine: We can be the one stop shop.
[00:39:25] Madison Baker: Yeah, one stop shop to a point. I will say.
You know, there's a lot of stuff I am like, okay, business cards. Like, we for sure can, you know, design those and order those for you. But there are some experts down the street that could do that better than we could. But try to be as one stop shop in a reasonable fashion. There's some stuff that it's just not our lane, so. So we can't do it. And if you do, if you do stuff that you probably shouldn't be doing, you learn your lesson. Cause you're like, that was a lot harder. And they should work with the experts on that.
[00:39:56] Taylor McAlpine: Well, we are almost done. So I'm gonna do a quick fire round with you if you're ready.
[00:39:59] Madison Baker: Yeah, let me pop my neck.
Okay. Fire round.
[00:40:03] Taylor McAlpine: Favorite place to go eat.
[00:40:05] Madison Baker: You and Chris on a date night. We like La Sirena.
Just a casual take the kids. We like, take care of Outlawn so fast.
[00:40:17] Taylor McAlpine: Favorite place to do happy hour.
[00:40:21] Madison Baker: Probably good line.
[00:40:22] Taylor McAlpine: Okay, for sure. What's your order?
[00:40:24] Madison Baker: Floating in space.
[00:40:25] Taylor McAlpine: Love it.
What are your favorite things about Lubbock?
[00:40:31] Madison Baker: I love how easy it is to live here. It is just the easiest place. I like knowing almost everyone that lives here, which I don't. But you know, I like familiar. Yeah, I like familiar faces.
I really like that it's growing. I think it's fun to live here right now.
Watching some growth, especially since we've moved back and leaving and coming back, it's just the perspective is so different.
[00:40:55] Taylor McAlpine: And I'm sure you've seen more people coming back too.
[00:40:57] Madison Baker: Yeah, more people, more friends, more family wanting to move back.
It's an affordable place to live, which these days it's much more appreciated than we knew. Um, but now I like it. It's just easy.
People say it's like, this is one thing I don't agree with.
They're like, it's, you know, live here and travel more. I'm like, it's actually really hard and inconvenient to travel from here, so I
[00:41:21] Taylor McAlpine: never gotta go to Dallas or Houston.
[00:41:22] Madison Baker: It's like, okay, you can save your money by living here so you can travel more. But I think it's actually like harder to do that. But now, what about Lubbock for you? Is it because it's easy?
And family, let's get that support. Family and friends. Yeah.
[00:41:39] Taylor McAlpine: And then what is something you think Lubbock is missing?
[00:41:44] Madison Baker: A bagel shop.
[00:41:47] Taylor McAlpine: I've had that one in my head for days.
[00:41:49] Madison Baker: Uh huh. And even like a really good sandwich shop.
[00:41:52] Taylor McAlpine: Okay.
[00:41:54] Madison Baker: That's just me wanting to eat hungry for lunch.
I don't know, like a million restaurants that kids could play at. Like we go to Hilton Head every year in South Carolina and it is a destination for families, but every single one of their restaurants or breweries has a playground and it's just like the best. I don't know.
So I would say like that kind of stuff for kids. I mean it's, it's missing quite a bit of stuff.
[00:42:20] Taylor McAlpine: But building out the family entertainment space.
[00:42:23] Madison Baker: Yeah, Family entertainment space would be such a big, huge investment.
I think things are hard though. Lubbock seems really saturated with restaurants and things like that. And so I think unless you're like going all in and doing it really well and gonna really hustle it, it would be hard.
[00:42:42] Taylor McAlpine: Yeah.
[00:42:43] Madison Baker: But I think that's like my main thing I think about, at least in this phase of life, you know.
[00:42:49] Taylor McAlpine: Oh, completely the same. Me and all my friend groups were talking about. Man, I wish there was a place we could have nachos, a margarita and a playground.
[00:42:57] Madison Baker: Yeah, Chimneys with a playground would be really nice. But no, like, I don't know, it's just strange. There's not a lot of places to be able to go and take your kids and hang out for a while.
[00:43:09] Taylor McAlpine: Love those ideas.
[00:43:10] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:43:11] Taylor McAlpine: So we are wrapping up.
How do people learn more about you? Stay in touch.
[00:43:16] Madison Baker: Okay, so Instagram, CATS, I believe.
Shopcalifornia teas.com and we're on 16th and University so you can always drop by and see our store.
We're out and about at events kind of all the time.
So yeah, follow us on the Instagram though. That'll be the best. We have a great weekly newsletter. That's been my favorite thing of the past year.
[00:43:38] Taylor McAlpine: I've been getting that.
[00:43:39] Madison Baker: Yeah. Yeah, a good weekly newsletter with real ideas, real stuff that like, hopefully is helpful to customers.
But yeah, maybe just come see us on University if you're local.
[00:43:49] Taylor McAlpine: Love it.
[00:43:49] Madison Baker: Yeah.
[00:43:50] Taylor McAlpine: Well, thank you for joining the podcast.
[00:43:51] Madison Baker: Yeah, for sure. That was fun.
[00:43:53] Taylor McAlpine: You enjoyed it?
[00:43:53] Madison Baker: Yeah, it was fun. Super fun.
[00:43:54] Taylor McAlpine: Thanks for letting me do a couple more exits. I didn't think the conversation was quite done, so.
[00:43:57] Madison Baker: No, you're good. Whatever you need, I'll do it.
[00:44:00] Taylor McAlpine: Love it. Well, thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you all in the next episode.
