Ep 89- Dig World's Rise with Jacob Robinson

Transcript

Transcripts are generated by machine learning, so typos may be present.

BTB (00:00):

Welcome to the Building Texas Business Podcast, interviews with thought leaders and organizational visionaries from across industry. Join us as we talk about the latest trends, challenges, and growth opportunities to take your business to the next level. The Building Texas Business Podcast is brought to you by BoyarMiller, providing counsel beyond expectations. Find out how we can make a meaningful difference to your business at boyarmiller.com and by your podcast team where having your own podcast is as easy as being a guest on ours. Discover more at yourpodcast.team. Now here’s your host, Chris Hanslik.

Chris (00:47):

In this episode, you will meet Jacob Robinson, founder of Dig World. Jacob tells a story about how his son Pierce inspired him to build a company, to bring people together and create memories. Jacob, I want to welcome you to Building Texas Business. Thanks for taking time to come on the podcast. No,

Jacob (01:06):

Thank you. I’m so honored to be here.

Chris (01:09):

So we can see from behind you Dig World, your company. Take a minute to tell the listeners what Dig World is. What do you do? What do you known for?

Jacob (01:19):

Yeah, great question. So we are a construction theme park where we allow kids and adults to operate real construction equipment. So we let them drive real skidsteers, real excavators, real UTVs, we’ll take you up and boom lifts the whole deal. And the only thing is you need to be three years old or older. And so we truly are a fun family theme park, but we allow you to operate real construction equipment.

Chris (01:41):

Wow. I mean, that’s amazing. Real construction equipment. I can’t wait to get into more of the details behind that. But first I have to ask you, what was the inspiration to start a company like this?

Jacob (01:52):

Yeah, it’s crazy. You don’t wake up with a dream every day to start a construction theme party. Yeah,

Chris (01:56):

Well, maybe a construction theme park, but not one where a 3-year-old can operate a full.

Jacob (02:00):

That’s right. That’s fair. That’s fair. Well, no. So my wife and I were blessed. We have three amazing kids. We have 9-year-old, a five-year old, and almost a 2-year-old. And so life is good and hectic right now. But my 9-year-old son Pierce was born in 2015, a happy, healthy baby boy, and life progressed just normally and just fine. And then in 2017, one morning on a Saturday morning, my wife found him in his crib unconscious. And after rushing him to the hospital, we learned that he had contracted bacterial meningitis. We weren’t sure if he was going to make it through the weekend, but the Lord had different plans. He was in a coma 12 days, and we were in the hospital 75 days. And when we left the hospital, Pierce left with a whole host of issues. He’s nonverbal. He’s epileptic, he’s deaf in both ears, wheelchair and mental capacity of call, maybe a one-year-old.

(02:45):

But he is a happy little boy. And as I was telling somebody else, Pierce sees the world the way that we should all see the world, but he doesn’t see your skin color, he doesn’t see your income, he doesn’t see what car you drive, as long as you hang out with him, you’ve got a friend for life. So after a couple of years, my wife and I, we really, I had this burden to build something where we could bring people together. You conceptually always understand that life is short, but when you’re faced with something like that, you really understand that life is short and precious. And so you want to bring people together and create memories and have good times and not just look up and say, man, all I did was work for 40, 50 years and here I am. And so we had this idea, as I told somebody, we’re pretty good, arrogant Texans.

(03:24):

We thought we could build a theme park. It couldn’t be that hard, right? And man, we were wrong. And we’ll get into that, I’m sure at some point during the show. But Pierces always loved construction equipment, garbage trucks, dump trucks. Really think in that whole, everything in that category. And so we said, Hey, we really think we could put a three-year-old on an excavator and make it safe. So what if we could build a theme park where kids could actually come and operate real construction equipment? And for the listeners out there, some of you may be thinking, oh, this must be some toned down version. No, these are real. These are 3 0 2 sevens, these are three oh fives, these are 2 43. And so these are the real deal that we have re-engineered to where it’s safe, but these are the real deal that you get to operate at the park. So that’s how we got started. Pierce is the inspiration behind the park, the inspiration behind really a lot of things that I do in life and bringing people together to create memories that last a lifetime.

Chris (04:11):

My gosh. I mean, that’s a mic drop story, Jacob. I mean, blessings to you and Pierce and your whole family. I hope to get the chance to meet him one day. Yes.

Jacob (04:22):

He’s the coolest member of our family, so yes.

Chris (04:24):

That is amazing. So wow, I love the inspiration and the story and this whole idea of bringing people and families together for those memories. So were you in the construction business when you started this or what were you doing?

Jacob (04:38):

I would say yes and no. I had a commercial cleaning company. I started in 2015. That was my job. We just recently sold that business. And where we started that business was in the construction cleaning space. So anytime a general contractor would go and build a big building or a hotel or an office building, we would come in, we would work for the general contractor, and we would do the final clean on that building. So I was kind of in the construction space. We answered to dcs all day, but I am not a construction guy by trade. I was an ag major at Texas a and m, so I was a janitor turned theme park guy. So it’s been a very interesting career, as you can ask, my CPA wife from all the meandering roads that we’ve taken.

Chris (05:17):

So clear on inspiration. So then let’s kind of dig into what a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners face is that first step of actually getting the courage to chase that dream. So take us back to that. What was that like? What were the first steps? What were the feelings like how did you convince that CPA wife that this was wasn’t quite as crazy as it sounded?

Jacob (05:47):

Yes. I’m not sure when we crossed that line that the craziness went out the window. We may have been there for a couple of years, but I would say to those entrepreneurs out there, it’s cheesy to say, and it’s cliche to say, but everybody sees the end of the story. Everybody sees Dig world now. We’ve been open, we’re on Shark Tank, we’re franchising. Everybody’s going, ah, great idea. Listen, that was not the case when we first started. We went back and counted. I had it roughly 248 pitch meetings where they told me no, that I was crazy. It was never going to work. Nobody’s ever going to come to this. It is not safe. All these kinds of things. And so 248, it’s a lot of meetings. It’s a lot of meetings stuff. It’s a lot of, no, it’s a lot of nos. It’s a lot of nos to keep coming home and go, it was a good meeting.

(06:31):

It was a good meeting. What did they give you money? Not at all, quite the opposite, but it was a good meeting. And so to those entrepreneurs out there that if you think you’re the only person that sees it, man, I get you. If you’re pounding your head against the pavement and going, man, if one more person tells me nos, hey, I’ve been there with you. I know what that’s like. Keep pressing on, keep going. If you have the vision and you have the conviction behind it, I promise you at some point you are going to find somebody that believes in your vision for no other reason than you’ve just been at it for so long and you’ve got conviction behind it that somebody will take a flyer on you. But it was difficult. It was difficult. We started in 2019 and then Covid hit.

(07:09):

And so we told people, not only were we the crazy theme park, people running around asking people to invest, but then we were the crazy people saying, Hey, listen, not only are we going to build it, we’re going to get a whole bunch of people together. And that messaging wasn’t going over very well during Covid. And so we had all of these factors that were not going in our favor. And then finally in 21 and 2021, we had a first couple of people start to say yes. And then Dominoes started to fall, and then we opened in March of 2022. And frankly, that was an epic failure too that we can talk about as well. But it was a long journey. It was a long journey. And so my encouragement to those that are out there either on that journey or those that are at the beginning of that journey is take a step.

(07:47):

Just take a step, do something. Just call somebody and say your dream out loud. Call somebody and say, Hey, listen, I’m going to let a three-year-old drive a skidsteer. And the more you start to say it out loud, the better that muscle is going to become being flexed. And then all of a sudden you’re going to be the confident person that walks in the room and goes, no, yeah, of course we’re going to put a three-year-old on Skidsteer. We’re going to let ’em drive an excavator. We’re going to have birthday parties here. And then, hey, guess what? They’re still going to take a no, but just keep going. Right? Just keep going. Perseverance is the name of the game on entrepreneurship

Chris (08:18):

A wonderful message. I’ve heard it from many others in different ways, but that theme of just take the step. Just do it. Just go for it. No one’s ever going to believe it as much as you do. So you got to have that passion and belief, and eventually you will find someone to get behind you and then it’s on you to deliver. Right?

Jacob (08:36):

That’s right. That’s right. That’s exactly right.

Chris (08:38):

So I do want to get to the story on the opening, but I have to ask, you mentioned it earlier, so how did the Shark Tank thing come about? How’d you wind up on Shark Tank? Let’s talk a little bit about that experience and what that was like.

Jacob (08:51):

Yeah, an amazing experience. It just was fantastic all around an exhausting experience nonetheless. But it was a fantastic experience. We were very blessed. One day I was sitting at my computer and we got an email to our info account and said, Hey, would you consider being on season 16 of Shark Tank? And clearly we thought it was a joke and clearly thought or something was going to be hacked if I respond to it, don’t click the attachment. Right, don’t click. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. All of a sudden our bank account gets hacked. But it was actually one of the producers, she had seen us on Instagram and said, Hey, listen, would you be interested? Let’s learn more about your business, see if it checks a lot of these boxes. And then that started the whole process, and the process is rigorous and it’s long, and your fate hangs in the hands of people that you never get to see or talk to, and it goes from one lawyer to another lawyer.

(09:36):

None of those lawyers have talked to each other. And so the whole process is very interesting. And then you get your script. And the only thing I say about the show, the show is true. It’s true to form. The only thing scripted about the show is the very beginning pitch that you give. And other than that, it’s a free for all. The sharks don’t know about your business. They don’t have a flyer on your business. They haven’t been given any information. It’s truly a live pitch. And so you want to talk about bringing up some memories of past of pitching again when I’m like, Hey, no, hold on. We got the park open. I don’t need to pitch anybody again, plenty of people have told me, no, I don’t need five people on national television to blast me and tell me no. So when we got there, we did the pitch and we were very blessed. It went well. We secured a deal from Robert Vek, the tech entrepreneur on the show. He’s one of the staple sharks.

Speaker 1 (10:23):

And

Jacob (10:24):

It’s just been a great experience, and it is one of those things that you look up and you really have to sit in the fact that it’s one of those once in a lifetime crazy things. And even yesterday, I was driving to the grocery store and I sat there and I was like, man, this really happened. That’s crazy. And just trying to enjoy those moments.

Chris (10:40):

Well, and I mean, it has to be, it’s great that it worked out and you got some additional investment from a very seasoned person, but just the notoriety of being on right opened a lot of eyes to you and had to increase traction and interest in what you were doing.

Jacob (10:58):

Totally. I think from even just foot traffic to the park here in Katy, that’s been tremendous. But then even obviously we went on the show to sell franchises. Our next big hurdle is selling franchises across the country. And we have been flooded with requests of franchises to bring a part to their location, their city, talking to potential franchisees. It really just totally gasoline on the fire.

Chris (11:22):

So let’s go back to the opening, you said March, 2022. One of the things I like to talk to people about is let’s talk about a failure that you’ve encountered. And most people will tell you could do a host show on ’em, right?

Jacob (11:34):

Literally, I was going to say, you don’t have enough time on this,

Chris (11:36):

But you shared that I guess the opening didn’t go so well or something around that. So let’s talk about what were some of the failures around that? What did you learn that made you better going forward?

Jacob (11:47):

That’s right. I tell people one day when I give a speech one day at a theme park conference, I’m going to be able to tell people I’m one of the very few theme park operators in the world that has opened a theme park and closed it the same day because it went so poorly. And so I do have that badge of honor with me. So we opened the park too soon, and that was a hundred percent my fault, right? You’re trying to, you build in these parameters in your head, we got to open this date, we got to do this. People are waiting. And I really wanted to be open that Thursday of spring break back in 2022. Could I have waited 48 hours more? And would that have fixed our problems? Yes. Did I? No. And I think a lot of it was, we had been at this for four years at this point.

(12:28):

We were exhausted, and here was the finish line. The finish line was on Thursday, and we could do this, and everybody’s going to love it. Tickets were sold out. There was plenty of buzz. We were being interviewed from broadcast, I was on NPR and we’re doing this interview in this country and all over the us and there was so much media attention. We had helicopters circling over the park, doing filming, getting ready for the opening. And when we open, man, it was an epic disaster. And the reason it was is I pushed the grand opening. All of our machines were not ready. We had not put on our technology of all the machines, not that we were letting people operate those machines, but we did not have enough time built in to put a computer on this machine and then this machine and then this machine.

(13:08):

And so what happened is we opened the park to hundreds and hundreds of people, and we didn’t have that many machines going. And so those hundreds and hundreds of people waited in line for hours, and it was just disastrous. And people were angry at me, rightfully so. People wanted to tell me what they thought about me. And rightfully so. The amount of refund that we issued that day were, it was probably dollar for dollar. We probably made $0 that day or just lost money. And so we had to shut the park down. So I go on and we were going to be open that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I just canceled everything. I said, Hey, I’m so sorry. We’re not going to be open. We’ll refund you your tickets or you can come back whenever you want. And man, people were so mad at us.

(13:43):

They were so mad at us. The news was doing coverage about how dig world closed in less than 24 hours, and it was a disaster, an epic failure. And so you go home that night and something you have been working for four years, there was nothing good about it. There was no silver lining. You could be like, well, but no, no, it was terrible. And kids left crying. I mean, just like I said, just terrible. And my wife will tell you that looking back on that night, she goes, Hey, I thought I lost you mentally that night. I thought you were so down in the dumps that night that I didn’t know where we were going to go from here. And yeah, I remember the next day waking up. I was trying going to take my son on a walk. And I remember getting halfway out of the neighborhood and having to turn around and going, I’ve got to go back into the office. We’ve got to go in the offensive here and really try to say, Hey, listen, we’re sorry. Let’s own the mistake, right? Hey, we opened too soon. Please come back. And so I think you look at it, right? And it just was one of those epic failures, and we’ve had many more along the way. Right.

Chris (14:40):

Hello friends, this is Chris Hans, your building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations, and business leaders. Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm@boermiller.com, and thanks for listening to the show

Jacob (15:11):

Of things of just trying to figure out how to run a theme park. And we’ve never run a theme park, but that was one that’s an easy recall. When somebody asked me to talk about failure,

Chris (15:19):

You almost were there, right? Reliving it that day.

Jacob (15:22):

Oh man. Yes.

Chris (15:24):

Well, the lesson though, in that you found the positive, and I think it’s true in so many different circumstances, we’re all going to make mistakes. We’ve made ’em in the past one thing certain we’re going to make ’em again in the future. It’s owning it, taking ownership of it, and then committing to do better. I think when you do that, what more times than not, what comes from that is grace, that people extend grace to you. And I think it seems like what you’ve experienced, right? You owned it, said, we’re going to do better. The community gave you grace, and when you opened back up, they came. So

Jacob (16:00):

That’s right. That’s exactly right. And I think too, as an entrepreneur, obviously owning it, right? I think don’t pass the blame even honestly, even if it’s not really your blame. People want somebody to stand up and say, Hey, it’s on me. And I think we don’t see that a lot of times in leadership throughout whatever, but people willing to say, Hey, that one’s on me. I’m going to raise my hand. That one’s on me. And then the key is forgetting quickly and moving on and not dwelling, which is hard to do. It’s hard to not dwell on those mistakes and not live in those. I had a mentor of mine say, Hey, whatever you do, operate out of imagination, not memory. Don’t go back there. Sit in those failures, operate out of imagination, not memory.

Chris (16:37):

That’s a good one. I haven’t heard that one before. I’m writing it down.

Jacob (16:40):

I would like to take credit for it, but somebody much smarter than me said it.

Chris (16:43):

Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit about technology and innovation. I mean, I know these are big machinery used out in the construction. There’s nothing really innovative about them, but it seems to me that using them in your theme park has to have some innovation and technology to make them safe as you’ve described them. So tell us about that. How did you come up with it or what did you find it?

Jacob (17:11):

Yeah, great question. So yes to all of the above. Now, I did not come up with it. I’m not smart enough to write code, but we partnered with an engineer and we said, Hey, listen, this is what we want to do. We believe this can happen. And what we did in simplistic terms is we built our own computer to put onto the back of the machine that goes into its wiring to override a lot of the functionality of it. And so when we call it dig world mode, when the computer’s in dig world mode, it is safe. The excavators are stationary, they can’t go forward and backwards. They only go certain degrees to the right and left and up and down. Our skid steers are heavily governed. The hydraulics and a lot of functionalities are disengaged. We have kill switches and then we can flip the computer back to normal mode, and it’s a normal functioning machine.

(17:53):

And so really coming alongside a bright engineering team and building this technology, that’s our technology and putting it on these machines is really outside the box kind of stuff. And finding somebody that wanted to dream alongside with us was the key to success there. And he’s still dreaming alongside with us. He had made a technology upgrade this past week. That’s one of those things you look at and you go, why didn’t we do that three years ago? That makes things a lot not safer very, it makes it simpler for our team to utilize. And so we’re always improving. I think that’s the other thing. You hear it all the time as an entrepreneur, but as a business owner, one of the things that’s very easy to do is get stuck in a rut and go, well, we’ve always done it that way. I had a call with my business partner this morning and he’s newer to the team, and he said, well, why are we doing that?

(18:37):

And I was like, well, honestly, I don’t know if we’ve ever asked that question. I think we’ve just done it. And so let’s change that, right? And so then letting pride go to the side and saying, let’s try something new here. And knowing that you don’t always have the right answers, and your teammate, you may have a high school kid that works for you, I do. That comes to you and goes, Hey, why are we doing it this? Could we do it like this? And you go, it’s a genius idea. Let’s do it that way. And being okay and putting your pride aside and saying, let’s change and adapt. But yes, technology is crucial to our park and it is at the forefront.

Chris (19:09):

So you’re clearly in the entertainment business. Let’s talk about building a team. I think clearly you’ve got an internal team there, I guess in the office that’s got to run the company some creativity around it, but then you have another team that’s customer facing. How have you gone about building each of those teams to try to maximize the company’s success?

Jacob (19:34):

Yeah, it’s a great question. Thank you. I would say, yeah, our two teams, I’d almost say that our corporate team, our corporate team is the X’s and O’s business focused. How do we grow the franchises? How do we optimize the p and l? And really the key to success there is not to overstate cliches, but go hire somebody smarter than you and go hire somebody that is great at your weaknesses and then give them the reins to run it. I don’t go in your lane, you know how to run it. I trust you explicitly. I’ve given you the keys to the kingdom because if not, if I’m just going to micromanage you, then why would I even have you on my team that’s demeaning to you? I’m going to end up doing the work anyways because I’m a control freak. So I’m going to go hire somebody that really knows what they’re doing and say go do it.

(20:13):

Or my business partner, he oversees a lot of different things, but one of ’em is the marketing. And today he said, Hey, listen, do we want to spend here? Do we want to spend here? I think the answer is here. Yep, let’s go there, right? If you think that’s the recommendation, man, let’s go there. I trust you. Go do it. And then I think going over to the customer facing side where we hire predominantly high school kids, really starting at the beginning of the interview going, Hey, this is what we sleep and breathe here. We love the customer. We love that people are here. We’re going to love on ’em and we’re going to make memories. Can you do that? Listen, and that’s what I’m going to hire and fire against. If I see you out there and you’re not loving on customers and you’re not creating memories that last a lifetime, we’re going to ask you to leave.

(20:52):

But that’s what from the beginning, we’re going to hire and fire against. Do we love people and are we serving them well? And if we do those things, we’re going to build a culture that people start to talk about. And at every team meeting that we have, I kick off of, Hey, today we’re going to love people, and today we’re going to think outside the box. And I know you had a long week at school. I’m asking you from nine to five today to dig deep and love on people because, and when you really frame it up, we get to be a part of something so special and so unique. We get to really be a part of this kid or this family’s memory bank. And hopefully in a good way,

(21:26):

There are going to be hundreds and hundreds of kids for the rest of their lives that are able to say, man, when I was five, I had my birthday party at this place called Dig World, and I got to drive a real excavator. They’re going to tell that story for their whole life. We get to be a part of that. How humbling is that? And so when you really can set the picture for these kids of what we’re doing here is not just a job. We’re not here today to collect tickets and put you on a machine and say, thank you for coming. We are ingraining ourselves into your memory bank. And when we can take that on in the privilege of that, then man, we can really sky’s the limit.

Chris (21:59):

Yeah. Well, I could see if you get that light bulb to go off in any employee, it changes the whole dynamic, the mindset. And luckily those high school kids, I got to believe they’re learning great life skills to have to deal with people on the fly. That’s what we do every day, right? We’re dealing with people as

Jacob (22:17):

They come to us.

Chris (22:18):

And so that’s exactly

Jacob (22:19):

Right. And get to teach ’em that, hey, the customer’s not always right. Sometimes we can stand our ground every now and then too. And so really, yeah, how do we handle conflict with each other? How do we handle conflict with a customer? Those are skills that are in an online day and age are becoming less and less. So how do we actually stand in front of another human being say, Hey, listen, I know you’re frustrated. Let’s figure out how we can work through this kind of deal. So hopefully we’re teaching them things that can go far beyond dig world.

Chris (22:45):

Yes, for sure. So we’re here in Texas. You started this business here. Tell me some of the things that you found or have found to be advantageous about being a Texas-based business.

Jacob (22:56):

Oh man. So many. One, obviously just the people. The people buy in and they love it. They love supporting the business. They love supporting what we’re trying to do here. And so culturally, it’s amazing to be here in Texas. We were fortunate when we started, we had a partnership with Texas a and m, my alma mater. And so I’m a little biased there, but really getting their buy-in and a university that saw what we were trying to do and said, Hey, listen, let’s go capture the next generation of construction workers and teach them about Texas a and m. Yes, but let’s also teach them about this great industry of construction. And then really just the flexibility of Texas. There’s not many states you can just go out and for the first and foremost be like, Hey, listen, we’re going to start a theme park and it’s going to let kids operate construction equipment, right? The flexibility. And we went through the whole rigmarole and everything with insurance and the filings, but really the adaptability of the state and going, yeah, that sounds great. Let’s do that. And then everybody behind it, it’s been amazing.

Chris (23:49):

That’s great. So I’d like to talk about leadership and you’re clearly as a founder and CEO leader, but how do you think those leadership qualities have developed over time, and how would you describe your leadership style?

Jacob (24:06):

Yeah, I tell people a lot of times, I think there’s two versions of Jacob as the leader. There is pre pierce getting sick, and then there’s post pierce getting sick. Not that the goals have changed. The goals are still, listen, you’re running a business, you got to make money and you got to keep the doors open. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s the name of the game. But mindset around those have changed. The intensity around that has changed, and the bigger picture around that has changed. So for example, pre Pierce getting sick and our cleaning business, we lose a contract. I’m pretty frustrated. I’m probably a little panicky. We’re getting a little desperate on how do we replace that contract? I’m driving the team harder. What are we selling? I’m micromanaging more because I’m feeling nervous and anxious, right? Post Pierce getting sick, the intensity’s not gone, but the priorities are going, Hey, we lost the contract. Okay,

(24:52):

Let’s go home. Let’s reset tomorrow. We’ll find another one. There’s another one out there. Let’s go find another one. Right? And motivating the team that way, instead of fear-based, whether it be my fear or the fear I’m instilling rather than going, Hey, we’ll be fine. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re going to keep doing the Xs and Os of the business, and it will be there. And so I think when failure of a grand opening and a grand closing comes, you go, okay, listen, today was not a good day, day was a terrible day. However, I’m still here. My family’s still here, and tomorrow we’re going to figure out how we survive this and we’re going to pick up and we’re going to go to work tomorrow, and we’re going to figure it out. And then I think at the end of the day, I hope I’m a servant leader.

(25:29):

I hope our high school kids see me doing things that I ask them to do. I hope they see me cleaning the bathrooms. I hope they see me doing this. Not to manipulate them to saying, Hey, oh, Jacob’s doing it. I should go do it. No, I want you to see that we’re all in this together and I believe in it this much that I’m going to get in here with you and I’m not going to ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t do. And I think what they do at that point is they go, yeah, I’ll go clean the bathrooms, right? Hey, Jacob asked me to do it. I’ll go do it because I know he would do it right, rather than the dictator style leadership or the authoritarian style leadership. So I think for me, it’s coming alongside them, servant leadership, getting in the trenches, dealing with the disgruntled customers and not just making them deal with it.

(26:08):

All of those kinds of things I think build in the goodwill with the team and they see somebody that wants to link arms with you. And then what it allows me to do is come alongside them on those times where I either have to discipline or I have to re-correct or reposition and they go, okay, I know, but I know at the end of the day he loves me and I know at the end of the day it’s the best. Even if he’s firing me at the end of the day that you moving on, I’m still going to be in your corner. And so I think I view my leadership in those two ways.

Chris (26:34):

I like that it a lot can identify with it as well, feel the same way that to me, the servant leadership is so valuable. Your employees have to believe not only they’ve seen you do it, not that you will do it, they’ve seen you do it right and that when you ask them to do it, it’s important. And so that’s great. Just thinking about, obviously a lot of stuff going on in our world in any kind of different ways, but economically, legislatively, what are some of the headwinds, given all that, that you see facing Dig World as you’re looking out over the next thirty, sixty, ninety, a hundred twenty days year?

Jacob (27:17):

Yeah, it’s a great question. I would answer it two ways. One, as we look at the economics of our park and people coming to our park, what we feel like is we sit in that middle, probably lower to middle ground of your discretionary spending as a family. Meaning as I compare it to a Disney and when the economy goes down a little bit or people a little worried or nervous, the Disney vacation may go on the back burner because that’s a significant financial investment into that. It’s a great experience, but it’s significant. Where we fall is on the lower end of that category, hopefully delivering the same memories and experiences and fun and joy, but the price point is significantly cheaper than that. So we feel in good times and in rougher times, we hope to be a resource that allows those families to still create memories in that regard.

(28:04):

Externally, as we look to grow franchises, the ups and downs of the economy can sway different investors. They can sway how they want to hold their money, what they want to do with their money, what they don’t want to do with their money. Now, my sales pitch to those individuals are, Hey, you could take your money and put it over here, or you could take your money and put it over here and you could kind of be in control of it, but you also can create something that’s bigger than you for your community, for your family, things like that. So it will be interesting to see what the next probably call it 120 days have in store for us as far as how we’re received on the investment side. But right now our focus on this phase one is how do we get five franchises across the finish line and right now, praise the Lord. We’re very close to hitting that number, and then we got to get ’em open and we have to produce right at the end of the day. You have to produce. You have

Chris (28:51):

Two open now, or the second one’s about to open.

Jacob (28:54):

Dallas will be open by the end of this year. That’s correct.

Chris (28:56):

Okay, that’s great. So I got to ask meeting, you’re talking about Disney, maybe me think, do you have some kind of mascot or anybody in a big suit when you show up at Dig Wall?

Jacob (29:05):

It’s so funny you say, I literally sat off a phone call earlier. We’ve honed it into kind of two mascots that we want. And so that will be released soon once the debate can be decided within our team of which way we’re going.

Chris (29:16):

Okay, very good. So let’s just turn to a little more casual side. You said Katie went to a and m. I’m taking those two data points and making an assumption. You’re born and raised Texan.

Jacob (29:28):

A great question. It’s a great assumption, but no, I am a son of a healthcare executive, and so I was born in Alabama, raised all over Texas, graduated high school in South Carolina, then came to a and m, met my wife who was a Houstonian, who’s a Katy girl and much smarter than I am. And so she had a real job after college, and so I followed her here and I’ve been here ever since.

Chris (29:49):

Okay, great story. So just talking about Texas, y’all have a favorite spot. You like to go within the state to get away, maybe vacation time?

Jacob (29:58):

Yeah. What’s funny, whenever within the state, Melissa and I, we love to head over to San Antonio. We love the Hill Country side. We like a couple of the resorts there. That’s our getaway. And then I think when we’re getting away now we’ve got young kids, grandparents and cousins and nephews live in Waco, and so we head over to Waco. We spend a lot of time there, but if Melissa and I are just getting away and staying in the state, we’re going to head probably over to San Antonio.

Chris (30:18):

Very good. That leads me to the next question then. Do you prefer Tex-Mex or barbecue?

Jacob (30:22):

Oh man. Oh man. See that one? That’s a tricky question. We have to be specific in the subcategory, right? We’d have to pit two against each other.

Chris (30:32):

I hear you. Everyone says that. That’s the hardest question. Saved for last.

Jacob (30:36):

Oh my goodness. I’m going to have to go barbecue. I’m going to have to go barbecue.

Chris (30:40):

All right. I love how you’re going to break it down though. I’m the same way. It is like, well, I don’t know. It depends. I

Jacob (30:46):

Depends. It just depends. On Friday night, this weekend I had TexMex. On Saturday I had barbecue, so it literally is, but I’d have to go barbecue.

Chris (30:55):

Alright, very good. Well, Jacob, thank you again for taking time to come on the podcast. I mean, your story obviously from the start of it with Pierce is amazing, but just such a creative, unique thing that you’ve created and just wish you the best of success.

Jacob (31:10):

Thank you. Thank you. Honored to be here today. Thank you for taking time.

Chris (31:15):

And there we have it. Another great episode. Don’t forget to check out the show notes at boyarmiller.com/podcast and you can find out more about all the ways our firm can help you at boyarmiller.com. That’s it for this episode. Have a great week and we’ll talk to you next time.