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Watch This Before Opening A Pickleball Facility — Transcript

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0:00welcome to the first episode of a new
0:02series where we deep dive into the
0:04business of pickle ball facilities the
0:06objective is to uncover the Stories
0:08Behind These thriving businesses explore
0:11each facility's ingredients for success
0:14and what makes them unique in July I
0:17made my first stop to San Diego to visit
0:19Pat Rus co-founder of the Hub this is
0:24spaces and I'm your host Brian Lynn dude
0:29this is our second time to get together
0:30stoked yeah first of all thanks for
0:32coming at San Diego versus me you know
0:34huffing it all the way to Austin that's
0:36uh this is much nicer did you drive from
0:39like Nationals I did yeah we were in
0:41Dallas for that MLP Nationals com combo
0:45gig and went met with with Steve
0:47which was fun and then you were my first
0:50ever podcast Brian so you're the man
0:52thanks for uh thanks for doing that I'm
0:55loving it yeah appreciate it thank you
0:57so much for taking the time to do this
0:58thank you for the tour of the we're
1:00right now in San Diego um can you tell
1:02us more about like where we are and a
1:04little bit more about the Hub yeah for
1:06sure so this was our first um you know
1:10Hub basically we now have three building
1:12our fourth um three in California all
1:15large scale clubs the fourth is in
1:17Jacksonville Florida where my partner
1:19Ted Angelo moved to and is now building
1:21it there so so we are you know on both
1:25sides of the of the country which is
1:27kind of fun for us but this particular
1:29one is super special but real quick
1:31before we go any further into this
1:32episode I do need to make a quick shout
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3:22life.com B pickle ball like building but
3:25just a b pickle ball enjoy the show this
3:29was kind of before The Craze we bought
3:31the land almost um almost 3 years ago
3:34now and so we own the land we built it
3:37out um and it's just a really special
3:40place on how we did it as you saw as
3:42you're walking through the facility it's
3:44not all the courtz row after row after
3:47row it's and actually this is how we got
3:49the name of the Hub it's actually spokes
3:51out like a hub of a wheel and so in the
3:54center is our clubhouse and our you know
3:58Pro Shop and then we have a restaurant
4:00bar and our fire pit and Center Court
4:03and we elevated all that so that not
4:06Center Court where the Hub area is
4:08elevated for the Gathering Spot and it
4:11looks over like a hub of a wheel it
4:13looks over all the 26 courts and so it
4:17creates a really neat effect in all
4:20these Gathering areas and Cool vibe and
4:23lots of you know shade and we cover
4:26Center Court with the sail and it we
4:29love this place is is a really special
4:31place to us obviously it really embodies
4:34like the epitome of like California and
4:36just like the beauty of California too
4:37like the backdrop is just hills and
4:39mountains and like all the houses really
4:41nice at California type houses along the
4:43hills like it's super nice backdrop but
4:45everything you're saying about how it's
4:46not just an like a place that was maybe
4:50previously a tennis court Center in just
4:52rows of Courts it has like little break
4:54areas little like patches of grass but
4:56also like you said like you got the full
4:58kitchen going on like you have the Pro
5:00Shop um what were you doing before you
5:03opened this place up 3 years ago so I
5:05was running the events in Newport Beach
5:08right so right now the AP is happening
5:11um which is the third largest Tournament
5:12of the year I think they're pushing 1800
5:14so um I worked with USA pickleball to
5:17create the golden ticket series and we
5:21helped develop uh Newport Beach and for
5:24that we were running all the events and
5:26have the rights to the events so tons of
5:29tournaments tons of different things um
5:32charity events to organize play the
5:35whole thing it was really a
5:37communitybased club and we were we grew
5:39it to a gigantic Club I don't own the
5:41club and so since then and Ted and I
5:45built the restaurant we we basically
5:47sold that got out of that to buy this
5:51land to basically start our own brand in
5:54our own clubs and then it's just blown
5:56up from there so when we had the vision
6:00um it was finding the land was really
6:03really difficult um San Diego the real
6:07estate is extremely expensive as you can
6:09well imagine we don't rent it we own it
6:12um we wanted a really substantial size
6:16club we believe in large clubs and so we
6:19are the largest Club in San Diego County
6:22and it gives us the ability to do a lot
6:25more stuff so yeah that was our goal it
6:27took us um little a year year and a half
6:30to build and then been operating just
6:32about not quite two years now down here
6:34and and it's people love it The Vibes
6:37great members are cool San Diego is the
6:40number one vacation destination city of
6:42the United States fun fact and so we get
6:45a lot of um drop in we call them member
6:47for the day because they get complete
6:48member privileges um so we get a lot of
6:51that we do a lot of tournaments and
6:53charity events and all sorts of cool
6:56stuff yeah yeah back to like location
6:58whenever people talk about real estate
7:00they always say location location
7:01location and like this is unique because
7:04you're in like the hills in the in the
7:06heart of California and in San Diego and
7:08then I've been to other facilities where
7:10I'm not knocking it but other facilities
7:12might be in like a shopping mall plaza
7:15and you're just kind of looking at uh
7:17maybe just a regular stores and you're
7:19just a giant parking lot right there
7:21doesn't have this like unique appeal to
7:24it like you have here with the beautiful
7:26weather of course we're in California
7:28too right but
7:30everyone always wants to know how much
7:34does it take to open a location like
7:36when do you know whether or not this is
7:39a good deal or a bad
7:41deal yeah well they're hard first of all
7:44I caution everyone they're really hard
7:45deals to do um capital investment is
7:50substantial um the thought process that
7:53goes into it to build them build it
7:56right because if you don't build them
7:57right um it's not the whole Mage like
7:59build that they will come you know if
8:03the courts aren't correct like you now
8:05play quite a bit I know in in at a high
8:07level in the very beginning you may have
8:10been fine to play Anywhere But the
8:12better you get and the more dedicated
8:14you are to it which really you know who
8:16our members are substantially they you
8:19know need good courts right they need
8:22good spacing they need to make sure that
8:23the surface is correct we use acch
8:25surface and you know they need all the
8:28right things so one you got to build
8:29correctly which is difficult make sure
8:32the space is there are you building
8:33courts or are you building a club we
8:35build clubs and then the size is
8:38important it's hard to run a eight Court
8:40Club I mean it's you know it's the we
8:44think it's difficult you know we we run
8:45larger scale clubs so we can handle more
8:47massive people um but the real estate is
8:50key so and how you design it is key so
8:55being in an impacted area um is more
8:58important it's like we can go Inland
9:01from here a half an hour and there's
9:03tons of land and tons of things that you
9:05can do but no one's going to drive out
9:08there to go play Pickleball um so that's
9:12where the location is key but but the
9:15location comes with the price right and
9:18part of that challenge comes into the
9:19economics of it all so when you're
9:21looking at it is you know pickall grew
9:24up from the streets right and so you
9:26were used to playing for free and that's
9:29still a lot of people's mindset I can
9:31buy a paddle I can go you know play for
9:33free in the street or get a temporary
9:35net set up my street I don't understand
9:37you know why am I paying for a club so
9:40so that needs to create a whole
9:42different experience and it's a whole
9:43different business model and that's what
9:46we really specialize here at the Hub you
9:48know the and it's intense the the
9:52policies the programs the the Staffing
9:54that we have what we offer here from the
9:57fire pit to the shade to the bar to the
10:01courts to the ladders to the leagues to
10:03we're now affiliated with the heart
10:05eights and with the Barrier Breakers and
10:07the MLP team so all of these things
10:10creative what we're doing and so I just
10:12caution people it's a lot harder than
10:15Bill courts and they'll come so
10:17long-winded answer but there you go what
10:19you're saying towards the end of that
10:21with the amenities but also kind of the
10:24brand deals is that how you know whether
10:27or not the debt is worth it
10:30right so you look at debt in a number of
10:32different ways right so there's there's
10:35debt when like we bought land right so
10:38then you have that debt to say okay
10:41what's the risk on buying the land um so
10:44that's it's an expensive play and most
10:46people don't buy the land they go and
10:48they rent a building or whatever so the
10:50the land is a little bit different and
10:52you can say okay well I can sell that
10:54land off into the future right but now
10:57we took it and we invested Millions
10:59dollar into improving the land to build
11:01the business that we want to build so if
11:04the business doesn't succeed then the
11:07improvements that you did on the land
11:10doesn't necessarily make sense unless
11:12another operator can come in and do a
11:15better job but you're kind of confining
11:16what the the application is versus hey
11:20we're going to tear it all down and
11:21build apartment buildings here which you
11:23know which would work here um so so you
11:26got to look at the investment of the
11:28land or if it's a bu building that
11:29you're leasing the risk of that lease
11:32right because you know landlords they're
11:34making you put your name on it like you
11:36know you're guaranteeing that lease for
11:38some point in time and so and they don't
11:41necessarily industrial buildings they
11:42don't necessarily want to do a two-year
11:44lease to see how it goes um you're going
11:47to put a personal guarantee and you're
11:49going to do a long-term lease to kind of
11:50you know put that out there so there's
11:53all that risk that gets associated with
11:55it then your capital investment that you
11:57put into it okay now I got to build all
12:00this stuff out that's not cheap um now
12:03what's the model and who's going to come
12:05in and who's going to pay for it how
12:07else can we get the ancillary Revenue to
12:09make sure these things you know
12:11justify um so again they're really hard
12:14deals um the economics are challenging
12:17when they work they can work very well
12:20um I believe in larger scale deals but
12:23we've been fortunate where we're
12:24self-funding these deals and we're not
12:27going out and trying to raise a bunch of
12:28money
12:29and so it's the amount that it takes to
12:32run a 8 to 10 Court facility labor wise
12:36and and policy wise and you know the it
12:39and you know programming and all that
12:41stuff is basically the same that it
12:42takes to run a 26 Court facility so you
12:46start getting economies to scale as as
12:48you go as you grow but the risk is
12:52higher from a lease or the land or
12:56Investments that go into it so you
12:58really need to make all these good
13:00decisions and make sure that you're
13:02putting them in the right place so a lot
13:04of people go to malls right now they're
13:06looking to the mall model because at the
13:08mall they think oh there's open space
13:11and they can work and there's
13:13parking that's truly only part of it um
13:17you really in my mind you got to create
13:20this club atmosphere so they want to be
13:23part of it and when you do that which is
13:26hard to do then people take ownership
13:28they pick up their trash they they start
13:30engaging they tell their friends and and
13:32by Nature it's a community thing and the
13:34community helps grow your business um
13:37again long winded answer but there you
13:39go no that was super fascinating um wow
13:43yeah I need to marinate on that like
13:45after this but that is interesting when
13:47you talked about uh two things was like
13:49one was that you don't really you kept
13:53you use the word big and large like a
13:56couple times like large scale and just
13:59larger deals and then you also talked
14:02about the court versus the club
14:04atmosphere and if you were to choose
14:06both those words court and club and see
14:09which one is more synonymous with
14:11Community which is really like the heart
14:13of pickle ball I feel like Club is the
14:17one that's more closely closely related
14:21to the word community and that makes
14:22sense like if you're building a
14:24community
14:25then like you said people will treat
14:28this place like it's their own rather
14:30than we're just at a public court and if
14:32you look at public courts or just like
14:34Court areas it's it just seems like
14:36people are just there to use it rather
14:38than hey we kind of we have a piece of
14:42this in a way you're exactly right and
14:45and remember we're competing with
14:48free right so there are those public
14:51courts out there and people are like why
14:53am I paying you to play Pickleball when
14:56I can just go down the street and play
14:58on these public courts and so we have to
15:01bring all this additional value in so
15:03when they soly say well these courts are
15:05better and I really like the vibe here
15:07better and they do this organized play
15:09and they're structured and they have the
15:10social event or they whatever it is all
15:13the it's not whatever it's all these
15:14things you can't shortcut on any of it
15:17to basically create the value of the
15:18club and that's where you know they're
15:22paying for basically right that's when
15:24they can justify yes I will play for a
15:27membership and and do I I California so
15:31I equate a lot to the to surfing right
15:34so surfing's free right buy a surfboard
15:37and go in the ocean and just go you know
15:39surf so selling into the surf industry
15:42is really quite interesting because they
15:45there's not um a lot of opportunity
15:48because it's the mindset is everything's
15:50free even like parking passes a lot of
15:52surfers don't even want to pay with the
15:54parking pass because it breaks the
15:56theory of I'm it's everything free so
15:59pickall has a little bit of that into it
16:03as it grows as it develops um the value
16:06of the clubs if done right uh make a lot
16:09of sense and people are starting to
16:11appreciate the the differences for sure
16:14yeah yeah that's awesome what do
16:16overhead costs look like for a place
16:18like this because you mentioned all the
16:20amenities you mentioned the Ladd's
16:21leagues you also have the employees you
16:23have the Pro Shop um you also have
16:25different events that you hold yeah well
16:28it's sub FAL it's a it's a business I
16:30think with all of our clubs combined we
16:33over aund and something employees um so
16:36the labors are second most you know
16:38costly expense and that's tricky right
16:41and again California we I won't get into
16:44the California labor laws but it's not
16:46as favorable as you would think for the
16:48employer but um so you know having the
16:52right person and people that help run
16:55your Club is truly important so um you
16:59know the interaction with the members
17:01you know all those type of things are
17:02important and they they all work hard
17:04right so it's technical um with our
17:08computer systems and and making sure
17:11they're checked in and the billing and
17:12you know again like you mentioned Pro
17:14Shop and bar and all that kind of stuff
17:15and so we're a service-based business
17:18you know we have to address the needs of
17:20the customer right running these leagues
17:22running these ladders we do a lot of
17:24duper um events and so tying all that
17:28together so it's complicated um and and
17:33from the expense to ask your question
17:35labors are number one expense to it U
17:38besides the real estate which is that
17:40and then and then you have your
17:41insurance and and then you have you know
17:44your it and your web and your marketing
17:46and you know all the things that go
17:48along with that but um even our policies
17:51and you know we'll see if we franchise
17:54in the future or not or just partner
17:56with people but we our policies are are
17:58buttoned up and it's important to have
18:01that structured and and in place because
18:04there's liabilities you know that get
18:06associated with that and and people need
18:10and want structure and so putting all
18:12that together it's it's not as easy as
18:14it sounds for sure something that you
18:16mentioned in that was franchises so you
18:20have three locations in the state of
18:23California you mentioned that you're
18:24opening one in Jacksonville how do you
18:27feel about franchises as far as the pi
18:30pickle ball facility
18:32space well I have mixed feelings quite
18:35frankly um you know I I feel that I feel
18:40there's a big rush to Market um there's
18:43a big demand for courts and so people
18:45are trying to fulfill those
18:47demands um my feeling is there's a lot
18:50of franchise ORS
18:51that haven't been in business long
18:54enough to prove out their financial
18:56models to basically say do what we do
19:00because we're profitable and we're doing
19:01a great job that's really not existing
19:04out there I mean there's franchise or
19:05out there that don't have facilities
19:07like to me that's and again I'm an old
19:10man that have run businesses all my life
19:12so it's it's shocking to me that someone
19:14say well great I'll invest into this
19:16franchise and this brand and expecting
19:19to get all these things of a company
19:21that's never actually done it so there's
19:24that's a concern of mine um that would
19:26be a concern of mine for people out
19:28there so we are focused on profitability
19:32you know from a business side of it
19:33right the business has to be it matters
19:36to be profitable by the way the business
19:38has to be profitable it has to be run
19:40correctly it has to be run smooth and
19:42it's got to be repeatable and so having
19:45three clubs now in place and they're all
19:48slightly different our one in this is
19:50all outdoors in San Diego our one in
19:52Silicon Valley is all indoors it was the
19:55largest in the country for a while at 20
19:56courts indoors um potentially looking to
19:59expand it but and then we do have one
20:01that's a fitness center as well as um
20:04pickle and it has eight indoors and
20:07seven Outdoors um but that's a special
20:10facility because Fitness is amazing and
20:13what we do there and then the one we're
20:15building in Jacksonville is kind of like
20:17the pon you seen it it's a they're
20:19covered quarts with Fitness as well and
20:23I think we're doing 32 courts there so
20:26so you know we're trying to make it
20:30where everything makes sense and there's
20:32a reason for it and be profitability and
20:35cash flow positive you know right out of
20:38the Gator as soon as possible um I'm
20:41just nervous of a lot of people jumping
20:43into it that don't you know that are
20:45going into franchises and the franchise
20:47Source haven't necessarily proven their
20:49models out yet so those would be my
20:51cautions and concerns so we're we taking
20:53that's our money we're doing it and
20:56we're going down the the path of doing
20:58doing it right and then we'll decide if
21:00we just partner with people if we
21:02franchise if we just keep with what we
21:04have you know the future is still kind
21:07of up in the air with with myself and my
21:10three Partners we have three Partners in
21:11the company yeah within that you
21:14mentioned there should be some caution
21:16for people that may be looking at these
21:18franchises be oh I would want to be a
21:21part of that are there things that these
21:24people these individuals could look for
21:27when they're being approached or when
21:29they're approaching a franchiser and I
21:31don't know if that's the correct term
21:33but if they're approaching one of those
21:34facilities and like hey we want to be a
21:36part of this like what questions might
21:38they want to
21:39ask well I mean first of all you
21:44know how do you pick a
21:46marketplace right like you mentioned
21:48location location location right so
21:50that's top on the list how do you find
21:52that how do you pick it what justifies
21:55that is it economics is it location is
21:57it both is it you know what is it you
22:00notice as we came up here in San you
22:02know we came down here to San Diego and
22:05we drove into the facility it's right
22:07off the freeway like you don't have to
22:10go find it it's easy to get to access we
22:13have 1.1 million people within a 10 mile
22:16radius from
22:19us so we're like I think in San Diego
22:23we're like well we were like 26% of the
22:25courts now we're like you know less call
22:28it temper I don't even know what it is
22:30but the point is we're a big facility
22:32the largest facility in San Diego and
22:34we're easy access to it and so are as
22:38you saw here as you're walking the
22:39facility there's a lot of people here
22:42yeah the draw is Big it's only I mean
22:45most of these people were here by 9:00
22:47a.m. yeah for sure yeah right and you
22:50missed the people that left because
22:51they're here at 7
22:53but but but you know the point is is
22:56that the location is key so that be the
22:58first thing how do I find the location
23:00how do I do the economics to have that
23:03make sense because a location in
23:05downtown Austin which would be I'm
23:08assuming impossible to get um that's got
23:11to be more expensive than you know 30
23:14miles outside of Austin right so you
23:17can't charge the same in downtown Austin
23:20so how does that financial model work um
23:24when you're looking at at these things
23:26how much more is it to to do a larger
23:29facility and then how do I justify the
23:31risk and how do I mark it out to the
23:33community to make sure that this is
23:35actually going to pencil because as soon
23:37as you ink that
23:38lease they're making you put a personal
23:40guarantee on it I mean not always but
23:4399% of the time so these are Big risky
23:47deals for a lot of people and people go
23:50into it with a lot of passion a lot of
23:51oh I'd love to be in this industry it's
23:54really fun and and it is you can change
23:57a lot of lives can impact a lot of
23:59people meet a lot of cool people but
24:02it's hard and I also caution people on
24:04if you love pickle ball and you play it
24:07and you love it you want to P don't get
24:10into working in pickleball because you
24:11won't be playing pickleball much anymore
24:14so it's all consuming to to do you know
24:17facilities for sure like this especially
24:20yeah don't make emotional decisions
24:22especially when it comes to something of
24:23this magnitude which I just kind of
24:25gathered from you it feels like you
24:27always said business you you in the
24:30first time we talked you said something
24:33about business you had this quote it's
24:35like a phrase it's like you like always
24:38make like B basic business oh uh yeah
24:43basic business rules apply yeah yeah
24:45that's it that's yeah and and don't
24:47forget that basic business rules apply
24:50like try to take your emotions out of it
24:52a little bit I know everybody loves it
24:53and there's a lot of opportunity I get
24:55all that it's really hard and Capital
24:59intensive and and um again basic
25:02business rules apply look at the whole
25:04thing as a an objectively as possible
25:07from a business perspective not just oh
25:08I want to do it so bad it just be great
25:11it's like buying that house that you
25:13love and you want to do it so bad then
25:14you get in it's like oh my God there's
25:16termites and leaky damage like I had no
25:18idea this this cost me another $100,000
25:20and I I I shouldn't have been so
25:23emotional about it basically yeah I
25:25didn't make that mistake at all
25:30twice not definitely not me yeahuh I
25:33hear you um yeah one question I did have
25:37actually someone had asked this in the
25:39comment section um when I had mentioned
25:41that I was going to be out here and
25:42talking about facilities someone
25:46asked about key
25:48responsibilities for employees and then
25:51I'm going to ask a kind of change that
25:53question a little bit if you were to
25:55hire make your first hire what would be
25:58the first role that you would hire
26:01for so we have uh a role um try to
26:07remember the title um because I I let um
26:12one of my employees create the title
26:13herself and she's an amazing person Miss
26:15Teresa um and it's called Community
26:18engagement director and basically she
26:20does a ton of programming she does
26:23socials she she makes the Hub a club
26:28um because she's so engaging with the
26:31community and the community of our
26:33members and does all of our
26:36programming and make it so it's fun to
26:39be you know a member of the Hub right
26:42and so and she's happy and she's here my
26:45my partner Ted used to call her um
26:48probably aging myself Julie McCoy from
26:50the loveboat right the the cruise
26:52director basically and so that's a
26:55really key person um that's here a lot
26:59and she's engaging with the members and
27:01everything that now that could be the
27:02owner um it could be the manager it
27:05could be a lot of different people but
27:07um for us that's really important uh to
27:10have that person you know on the back
27:13end the accounting you know the policies
27:15writing the legal stuff I mean that's
27:18that's not nearly it's super important
27:21but the face of the club would be the
27:24first you know person I hire that's
27:26going to represent your Club you know
27:28the way you want it represented
27:29basically yeah interesting and not just
27:32the owner I I said it could be the owner
27:34it certainly needs to be the owner yeah
27:37but it needs to be someone that's not
27:38the owner that sometimes um is also more
27:41approachable or they would tell someone
27:43else that's not the owner something that
27:45would then get back to the owner which
27:47is really helpful you know I mean
27:49criticism isn't all you know bad it's
27:51good to take you know hear things from
27:54other people through other people for
27:55that matter yeah it's kind of why people
27:58I feel like it's the premise of that
28:00show like undercover bosses right right
28:02like you'll hear a lot more from people
28:05that have like their boots on the floor
28:06and not someone who's like a little bit
28:08higher up so like people are yeah like
28:10you said you learn I love that show
28:13actually I should do that goatea or
28:17something hey I'll I'll start the
28:18content
28:20series the virtual pro shop let's talk
28:23about that cuz you do have um your hands
28:26in co-founding pickle ball suit
28:28Superstore and of course that's very
28:29very relevant in this whole thing cuz we
28:31went to the Pro Shop there and physical
28:34Pro Shop is great right it it definitely
28:36looks very appealing but then not every
28:39business can afford that and sounds like
28:42you and Steve rack have come up with a
28:44solution called the virtual pro shop can
28:45you tell us a little bit about that yeah
28:48yeah for sure so so in Ted Angelo um my
28:52partner here in the hub so we had talked
28:54about it you know a while ago and then
28:56Steve rack who's the CEO and co-founder
28:59of of um the three of us co-founded
29:02pickle ball Superstore and so he brought
29:05technology to the table with his gig
29:08affiliate program which is as you know
29:10an affiliate program but it's linked
29:12into the code so as soon as you connect
29:16us with a customer you are forever
29:18linked to that customer it's not cookie
29:20based so it becomes very sustainable for
29:22people so with that concept or with that
29:26technology we can do other things and
29:29one of the things that we've created is
29:31this virtual pro shop so the problem
29:32with proops Pro Shops essentially and
29:35again we're large scale Club so it's
29:37it's a little different we can support
29:39support it financially but it's a big
29:40investment you get a lot of turn of
29:43product of the paddle that's hot six
29:45months ago isn't hot today and God
29:48forbid Yola comes out with something but
29:50you I'll cut that and not joking um so
29:55but the point being is that you know
29:57it's hard for the these operators to
29:59basically you know invest 50 plus
30:01thousand into a per shop and really what
30:04you are is a convenience store you know
30:06we sell a ton of water and Gatorade and
30:09protein bars and weights and grips and
30:11glasses and balls and you know that's
30:14really a ton of it we do sell paddles as
30:17well for sure um we do a lot of rental
30:19paddles and things like that so when
30:22you're trying to carry all these Brands
30:24it's just really difficult and somebody
30:26comes in with a new brand saying oh
30:27really like that so we created what we
30:29call a virtual pro shop where we demo a
30:32bunch of paddles like here in San Diego
30:34I think we demo like 80 paddles too many
30:38um and then but we don't carry 80
30:40paddles that would be insane but if
30:42someone really wanted to try something
30:45and we have it for them to try which is
30:46part of the club experience right I want
30:48to try this new paddle and everything
30:49else right so that's Again part of this
30:51experience that we do and we and we rent
30:54that and we demo it a members I think
30:55it's $5 for a non-member it's
30:58and they can change them out midday they
31:00can do it all day it's it's fun if they
31:03want to buy it and we don't carry it
31:05then they scan the code it goes right to
31:08pickall superport embeds the code embeds
31:10The Hub with them and so they uh get a
31:14discount
31:16Superstore sells it and ships it to them
31:18directly and the Hub makes the
31:20commission on that on that panle and
31:22then we're forever connected so again I
31:24mentioned San Diego being the number one
31:26vacation destination so imagine someone
31:28coming in from Austin right and now you
31:31demo something you're like oh I've never
31:32seen it anywhere I'm going to buy that
31:35you buy that through and then you leave
31:37and you never come back to San Diego
31:38it's a sad day for us but uh we are
31:41forever connected and so if you ever go
31:43back and buy balls or glasses or weights
31:46you know we're making revenue on the
31:47fact that you came into the hub for one
31:50day to come visit so it's really
31:53impactful um and it helps manage uh the
31:58clubs um Pro Shops especially for
32:01smaller you know courts like you know 10
32:0412 Court facilities um and the
32:06Investments that they're making already
32:08it's hard and then I'm not dealing with
32:10you know 40 different vendors either I'm
32:13dealing with one vendor so it it's it's
32:15a really a neat program for sure yeah
32:18yeah very interesting I I can see that
32:21solving I I think it's a it's a solution
32:24I think physical inventory is
32:28with the Advent of technology and
32:30leveraging Technology I don't think
32:32having physical inventory is something
32:33that's like super super necessary at
32:35this point for like brick and mortars so
32:37the virtual pro shop is such a unique
32:39and good solution um yeah I mean you
32:43still want to have product there so we
32:44still carry the fast mve because people
32:47are still impulsed by people like I got
32:49to have a paddle now right and so and
32:51and it's again back to the club it's
32:54part of the club atmosphere it's part of
32:56having that ability to do it and we have
32:58sponsors you know carbin for example and
33:00you know other you know Brands and so
33:03you know they support us we support them
33:06and so we want to carry their products
33:07so so there's a a balancing act to all
33:10of it but but the pr shops can be tricky
33:13and and in a cash suck so you got to be
33:16careful with it yeah I would name them
33:18Brands but there are some brands on the
33:19walls where you're like well these are
33:22going to be sold at a loss like these
33:25just because paddle technology moves so
33:27fast like oh well this paddle is no
33:28longer relevant right we have some on
33:31our wall still from you know two years
33:33and we'll fire sell the stuff off and it
33:34still doesn't move you know it's just
33:36it's just you know what do you do with
33:38it right so um and a lot of time we
33:41donate them or give them away to you
33:43know kids that are coming in or whatever
33:44but anyway you get it it's it's it's
33:47tricky yeah definely for sure and and a
33:49lot of time spent on it yeah um well
33:53this concludes the session man I mean
33:55you answered a lot of the questions with
33:58uh such great detail I really appreciate
34:00it i' certainly learned a lot I'm not
34:03opening facility up anytime soon but
34:05people these are things that people were
34:07asking about in the comment section in
34:09previous videos I made and I just didn't
34:11have a I didn't have the proper followup
34:13for it but now I do thanks to you so I
34:15appreciate that do you have any other
34:17announcements future projects that you
34:19guys are working on anything else you
34:20want to talk about before we end this
34:23well we're always working on something
34:24right so um you know I appre appreciate
34:28that like I said in our other podcast
34:30you know it's an entrepreneurs
34:31playground right now so so there's a lot
34:34of opportunities not just with the club
34:36space but with you know paddles with
34:38with lots of different things so um but
34:41you know I think the next step is let's
34:43get Chi to Silicon Valley and then let's
34:44get you to Alam at the Hub there and
34:47then you know I'll have to trick over to
34:49Florida we'll we'll do one there too BR
34:51let's make the circuit yeah but we'll
34:53start with your with your San Diego
34:56there you go your your San Diego Hub
34:58stop and thanks for and thanks for
35:00coming brother yeah yeah thank you um
35:03remember General business rules still
35:06apply there you go that always sticks in
35:08my head yeah thank you man I appreciate
35:10it yeah thanks bro

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