[00:00:00] Speaker A: On this month's episode of the Local click, we welcome Ms. Holly Rose with Hollies as well as Jennifer Sykes with Infinity Athletics. Of course, Justin is back with all of his tech news and tech tips and lots of more exciting things to talk about. You don't want to miss it. Learn more about fun local events and interesting people throughout the heart of Middle Tennessee. With a dash of everyday tech talk thrown in for good measure. The Local Clique starts now. Happy February, everyone. Welcome back to the latest episode of the Local Clique. The Local Clique is the technology based podcast brought to you by DTC Communications each and every month where we talk about all things technology and local people. And back with me again this month, Mr. Justin Malden. Hello, Justin. How goes it today, Nick?
[00:00:48] Speaker B: It is going fabulous. Can't complain. How about yourself?
[00:00:53] Speaker A: It's called going great and fabulous. And if it wasn't, no one would want to hear it. Anyway, that's what I've always been told.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Complaining generally doesn't do. Doesn't do any good.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Doesn't get you far, does it?
[00:01:01] Speaker B: No, no. Might as well have that smile because, you know, you hear me say this, it takes more energy, takes more muscles to frown than it does the smile.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: That's right. Turn that frown upside down. That's right. So tell us a little bit about what you're looking forward to for February. Of course, we all want the weather to maybe get a little warmer and nicer.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: But listen, we're coming in this time of the year.
We are coming up as you listen to this. If you're catching us at the beginning of the month, we still have the Super Bowl.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: And listen, that's the, that's the big listen. Lots and lots of pizza and lots of wings. Probably going to be several call outs work on on Monday, possibly for employers. That typically happens. But people get together to watch that.
Most people probably here in our area don't have a dog in the fight, so to say, because it is sad. The Philadelphia Eagles and that other team that has Taylor Swift's boyfriend on it, Taylor Swift's team.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: But just leave it at that. Right?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So, so now who, who, who do you have in this? I know, I know who America is rooting for. If you live outside of the Kansas City area, everybody is probably rooting for one other team that does not have to do with the Chiefs. But who are you rooting for?
[00:02:18] Speaker A: See, I kind of wanted the Bills originally to make it to the slot, so I have to go anti Kansas City. Yeah, listen, no matter who that would be.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: We gotta root for the Philadelphia Eagles here, I think. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
America is rooting for whoever is not the Kansas City Chiefs in this. You know, I had had a dialogue. I had to say this because one of my favorite college athletes of all time making an appearance in the super bowl and Jalen Hurts and he's got a great story coming out of college, starting in Alabama and then persevering and lost a starting job there, continued to Oklahoma, was not one of the first quarterbacks taken off the board, but made his way into starting. And he's got that fight in him. And it's, you know, very, very pleasing to me. But it'll be a good story to tell for people looking, looking back on perseverance and what that and what that means. And so that. That may be part of the reason why some people are rooting for Philadelphia as well.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: I think you may be onto something. You know, if Josh Allen can't be there, might as well.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Listen, the. The championship games were good. That was a great.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Yeah, they really were.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: That was a great AFC championship game. But, yeah, they somehow.
I'm not going to call it magic, whatever it is that Patrick Mahomes does. Some people would argue that there's other reasons for this.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we. We don't have to throw mud towards officiating or anything else. We have to do that. Right.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: But listen, February is here. We've got the Super Bowl. We got a lot coming in. We. We are. We're still in winter. We hit a super duper cold snap there, and we've gotten through it. But it looks like the projection, even for the next few weeks is warmer than normal.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: So we're going from colder than. To normal to warmer than normal. But I know, listen, my kids are still. They. They still. Tell me, dad, we still got snow.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Days left and they plan on getting the most of those, don't they?
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yes, they. They want those no days. And I hope they get them. Yeah, you know, they. They enjoy. They enjoy.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: I got a feeling they may, historically speaking. I just got a feeling later on they may.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Yeah. As long as it's, you know, not down to the single digits and that kind of cold. You know, if they can get some snow days in the. In the 20s, low 30s, I'll be okay.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yeah. That I would be much happier with that myself, so. Well, before we talk to you later in the show about technology news and your tech tips and that sort of thing, we got a lot of great Interviews for this month, as we always do. Later on, we'll be speaking Jennifer Sykes with Infinity Athletics in Smithville. But first, we're going to speak with Ms. Holly Rose and she's going to tell us all about her boutique, which is called Hollies.
And with me for the first guest spot for this episode of the Local Clique, we are very lucky to have Miss Holly Rose with Hollies. Hello. How are you?
[00:05:05] Speaker D: I'm good. How are you doing?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Thank you so much for being with us today.
[00:05:10] Speaker D: Thank you for having me.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: It's going to be a lot of fun. You're going to have to educate me on what you do. Now, I don't shop myself at a lot of boutiques and so maybe I need to start for others. You know, that might be a good idea.
[00:05:22] Speaker D: You should. And we actually have some manly things in store.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Well, there you go. I've got no excuse, right?
[00:05:27] Speaker D: That's right. No excuse. Or bring the wife.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: I know she would be glad for that. So, well, introduce yourself to everyone and tell us about, you know, your work background and how you got started in this business. What led you to be an entrepreneur and a small business owner?
[00:05:42] Speaker D: Okay. Well, I'm Holly Rose. I am from Carthage, Tennessee. I am married to Danny Rose and I have a 19 year old daughter. Her name is MJ. She is a sophomore at Tennessee Tech. And I have three lovely little bonus children, Carly, Cooper and Callie. And they go to school in Macon County. And my retail experience started with in the wireless industry.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:07] Speaker D: I worked at Verizon Wireless as soon as I graduated from college.
And I have been there for years and years and years and from customer service to sales to ops manager to assistant manager. And I left there and went to be on the indirect side, which was still wireless and it's still Verizon. It's just privately owned at that time.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:06:31] Speaker D: And I was the district manager there, which I had this territory in Woodbury. And the first time that I ever went into a privately owned, like clothing store, boutique, I was in Nashville somewhere shopping around and I was like, oh, I'm really into fashion. I love shopping. And I was like, I really would like to do this. But, you know, life is hard.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Where do you start and where do.
[00:06:56] Speaker D: You start and how do you do it? But a few years later, you know, when you dream something, it just doesn't ever go away. And a few years later, my husband was like, you know, well, he wasn't my husband. At the time. But he was like, you should go for this now or you're not ever going to do it because you're just getting older. And I was like, you know, he's right. So after a lot of prayer, I prayed and prayed and prayed about it and we just decided to do it. And of course I wanted it to be in Carthage because that's where I'm from.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:27] Speaker D: And that's where I grew up. So that's how it started.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: So you really learned a lot of your people skills in that previous career, right?
[00:07:34] Speaker D: Oh, yes, absolutely. Because I had been in that wireless industry for like 20 years, so. And I was like, if I can do all this, surely I can.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Such an important thing though, about owning your own business is how you communicate with people and your customers. Right. Because if you can't have that connection, that one on one communication connection with people, it's hard to figure out what are your needs, how do I solve them, and. And that sort of thing. So.
[00:07:59] Speaker D: Absolutely. I actually feel like that's the most important part. Art is your people skills, so you.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Got to have that for sure. So describe your inventory and the type of things that you have. I know it's a, it's a boutique. That's it. And it's called Hashtag Hollies. Before we do the inventory, you told me this off camera. I think this is, this is a great story. Tell us about your name and how that came about.
[00:08:19] Speaker D: Okay, so it's Hashtag Hollies. I told you earlier, I paid like a marketing company to help me with my name. And you had to give like all of your likes and interest and write all this paragraph to try to come up with a name. So I paid them. Well, they've sent me back so many names and I just didn't love any of them.
And so I was like, you know, anytime I go to a business in town, I always say, like, for instance, say, wait, if I say I'm going to Todd in Angie's. So instead of naming it a boutique name, why don't I just use my own personal name?
[00:08:56] Speaker C: Right?
[00:08:56] Speaker D: I was like, I'm just going to use my own personal name. That way they can say, I'm going to Holly.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Almost like a short name anyway.
[00:09:01] Speaker D: Fried.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Kind of use the shorter version. Yeah.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: But I was like, Holly's is just so boring though. I'm like, I don't know why, I just don't like Holly's. I've got to come up with something else. And my husband said, why don't you just throw a hashtag in front of it. And I was like, yes, that's what I want to do. So that's how we got the name.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: That's very forward thinking, too, you know.
[00:09:22] Speaker D: For the hashtags for social media, which at the time when we started, because we've been open for six years now, at the time when we started, hashtags were like, you know, really big.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And well, now that kind of turns us back towards your inventory. Tell us about the. The types of things that you normally carry in your store.
[00:09:39] Speaker D: So we are a clothing boutique and we mainly focus on women's clothing.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:44] Speaker D: And we have accessories to go along with that, like jewelry. We have shoes and purses. And I do have a little girls room added to the back where we have, like, newborn clothes. All the clothes, girls clothes, all the way up to, like sizes 12, 14.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Okay. So that's really nice to have a selection like that in a smaller town so you don't have to travel and that sort of thing too.
[00:10:07] Speaker D: Yes, sir. And then we opened up a gift store too, across the street, outside of the boutique. And it has gifts like candles and lotions and perfume and pillows and picture frames, things like that.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Okay. How do you decide what type of items you're going to carry? Do you have, you know, from a fashion standpoint, are you kind of keeping up on trends or is it just something that kind of catches your eye or something that people may ask about? Or how do you. How do you decide those things?
[00:10:35] Speaker D: That's actually quite challenging for me because I go to the market four to six times a year, and I love everything that they have there. And so I always set a budget when I go, and I always go over my budget. No matter how much I prepare or what I say I'm going to spend. But I love to shop. And I'm a part of these groups, these boutique groups, and they keep us updated on fashion trends and what's really in style, and so does the markets. When you go to the markets, you'll be able to tell what's really trending, the colors of the seasons and things like that.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: I bet it changes rapidly sometimes, right?
[00:11:16] Speaker D: It does. And that's why I tried to go to the market as much as I can. I've already been to Atlanta this year in January, and in next month in February, I'm going back to Atlanta, and I'm also going to New York for their market, too.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: That's how you stay on top of it, right? That's right. Well, how do you decide things like sizes and stuff like that? Is that just from experience on what the typical sizing range you'd want to, you know, keep in stock or, or do you. Some of the more hard to get sizes? Is that something you typically would order for someone, or how do you make those decisions?
[00:11:49] Speaker D: Yeah, so unfortunately, on the sizes we carry small through 3x for women when we order our inventory, like if I wanted to order a dress, so it would come in packs of 222, which is small, medium, large. So it'd be too small, too medium, and too large. So when you order a pack like that, you don't get to say, okay, well, I just need one more medium.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:12:15] Speaker D: Or I need one more large. It just comes in a pack size.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:18] Speaker D: So if that's why it's very important, when we post something online and you love it, you better snatch it.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: I was just about to say that's going to be. Act quickly. Right?
[00:12:25] Speaker D: Yes, that is absolutely right.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: That's.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: That's a good, good point, though. And that's good to know. Don't. Don't sleep on it. If you see something you. That you want, act immediately.
[00:12:32] Speaker D: Yes. Because we're not like Target or Walmart or Belk where we order 60 of the same item. You know, it's. It's a unique shopping experience and you try just to get in a few items of different styles. We'll have many styles, just not very many of the styles.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: That's also one of the things that makes, you know, makes you unique when you shop there, not everyone in your town is going to be wearing the same outfit a lot of times.
[00:12:59] Speaker D: That's correct.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Kind of makes it special, so to speak. Well, tell us about the importance of a great staff helping you out. And when you're a small business owner and you know, you can't, you can't bear all that weight on your own shoulders day after day. You've got to share some responsibilities with others. So tell us about your staff and the importance of having a good staff.
[00:13:20] Speaker D: I absolutely could not bear all of this without the staff.
My team members are so good.
I have. And the girls that are with me are with me for, like, years until they go to school. Because most of the time I hire high school students because they need jobs and they work in the afternoons or the nights, but when I staff is like one of the most important things to me because I feel like you need sweet, honest, nice people that work for you because when you're not there, they're the Face of you not being there. And that is the most important thing to me is customer service and how we treat people. And when they come in, I want everybody to feel like everybody's nice and welcome. No matter who you are or what you're looking for.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: They're basically an extension of you.
[00:14:13] Speaker D: Yes, absolutely.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker D: And I tell the girls that when I hire them up front because unfortunately I'm like, I might seem like your mother. And if you like, if they post anything inappropriately on TikTok, like some of the dances or the language that's used, I'll be like, can you take that down? Because you know, our customers might say that.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Yeah. So you're public facing now, so I can understand that. Yeah.
[00:14:36] Speaker D: So I try to tell everybody that up front and that that's kind of what I'm going to be like. It's important to have good people working for you because they're going to. They got to pull it off while you're not there.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: That's right. You got to depend on them. Talk about the joy of running your business in a small town like Carthage and being in Smith county and those ties to a small community, close knit relationships and that sort of thing. Is that important to you?
[00:15:02] Speaker D: It's extremely important to me. I love Smith county. I'm from carthage. I graduated from schs, My husband graduated from. We go to church in Carthage. So it's extremely important. Those relationships that you build and if they walk in the door, it's not people that I don't know, it's people that I carry on conversations with.
We may even cry together depending on, you know, if they're. What they're going through, if they've had losses or if they've been sick. We pray together. I pray for them at home. We laugh together. We. And the community is really supportive in Smith county. They want to shop local and they want to do. They want their small businesses to do good. And when I walk out on the street and carthage is thriving right now.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: It really is.
[00:15:53] Speaker D: It is. And I love every bit of it. There's businesses going in left and right. There's no parking left on the streets and people are out shopping and eating and drinking coffee and it's amazing. And I love to experience that and I love that small town feel.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: And you're a part of it.
[00:16:10] Speaker D: Yes. And I love being a part of it. Yes, I love it. I love every bit of it.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Well, I know there's times when, you know, as much as people want to have time, you know, maybe to get away for a moment and do some shopping in person and that sort of thing. But sometimes schedules just don't allow for it. Right. And so I noticed your website is. Is actually really great and you have a lot of inventory right there that you can, you can shop from the comfort of your own home if you need to. Right. And have things shipped in.
[00:16:37] Speaker D: We actually got our website up and running just in time that we decided to do in 2020. And I say about a month after we got our website up and running, we had to shut down because of COVID So that worked out really well for us to do the website and Tick Tock.
We post all these videos on Tick Tock and we'll have people that are right and say where can I get this shirt? And before we know it, they're ordering it off of the website. And they're from Californ or they're from Texas or they're from Georgia. And yesterday when I looked, we had shipped. We have done about 1300 online orders.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:17:19] Speaker D: Which doesn't seem like a lot for some people, but for a small business it's. It's a lot.
Yes. And that's just from the website that doesn't include anything that we've sold off of Facebook or anything that's been ordered through like Instagram. It's just straight from the website.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Well, that's great.
[00:17:35] Speaker D: So we're happy about that.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Tick Tock is no longer the wild west of commerce, is it? It's kind of mainstream now, isn't it?
[00:17:42] Speaker D: Yes. And we just kind of use Tick Tock as not necessarily like a selling tool, but like a tool to get to know our girls, our personalities kind of to be funny and not like in an environment where we're trying to sell everything for every.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: Not a hard sell messaging kind of.
[00:17:58] Speaker D: To get to connect with the team.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:00] Speaker D: And to be funny and it makes.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: You come across more real.
[00:18:04] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: To people sometimes.
[00:18:05] Speaker D: And it's fun. The girls love to do Tick Tocks and I, you know, I'm not going to tell my age but I'm honestly would not have a clue how to work it. But the girls have kept me informed, they have taught me how to use it and.
Yeah. So here we are.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Great. Now that's embraced it. Right?
[00:18:23] Speaker B: It's here.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: You might as well.
[00:18:24] Speaker D: So yes. Now if you ask the other Holly because there's another Holly that works with me. If you ask the other Holly to do a Tick Tock, she has no clue. She has, hasn't dived in she's like, yeah, I don't.
So if you see her in a tick tock, we've done all the work behind the background because she just doesn't know how to operate it and that's okay. She'll kill me for doing that.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Everybody's got their specialties, right?
[00:18:44] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: Well, you know, speaking of TikTok and technology and that sort of thing, what are some of the ways that you use technology on a day to day basis to help run your business?
[00:18:56] Speaker D: I don't know if I could run my business without technology because our point of sale system is actually hooked up through the Internet. Our card systems, how we take payments is hooked up through the Internet. So we use shopkeep for our point of sale and that's how our credit cards and everything are run. And all of that is connected to of course our WI fi. And then obviously our point of sale we have to load in our clothes when we get them in, we have to tag them and price them. And that's how we put inventory. All of the inventory. We don't just write on there that it's like 25. We have to put it in the system and give it a skew. And that's. We do that online. And then of course all of our social media, our Facebook, our Instagram and our TikTok and all of that is run through of course, Heaven Online.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: It's. It's the age, right?
[00:19:48] Speaker D: Yes, it's absolutely.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: Well, I know we've probably, you know, piqued the interest of a lot of viewers and listeners today with your business because they're like, I need to learn more about this. I want to go in person and see what she's got. I want to check out her website. What are some of the ways that people can do that? Where can they find you physically and online?
[00:20:05] Speaker D: Yes, our address is 312 Main Street north and that is hashtag Hollies. And right across the street we have Be the Gift and that is 327 Main street so we have both of those locations nearby where you can visit and our website is hashtag Hollies.com but if you can make it in the store. Because a lot of the times we, we don't have as much inventory online as we do in the store. We have so much more to offer.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: So even more selection y in person.
[00:20:38] Speaker D: Yes, so much more. Just because it takes a lot of time and energy to put into the pictures and get those uploaded. And we just have so much more inventory in the store. Right and we are having a Galentine's event on February 11th.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:52] Speaker D: So four to seven. I would love for people to come out to that. And we're going to have like little cakes and mason jars and fruit tea and we're having permanent jewelry. And my friend Kristen's going to be set up there with her booth and my friend Ashton's going to be set up with her booth and she makes like goat. So like goat milk.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.
[00:21:13] Speaker D: It's going to be a good night.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: There's never been a better time to make that first visit than this event that you're talking about.
[00:21:19] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: You're doing great things in Carthage and we wish you nothing but continued success in your business. And we'll have to stop by sometime and see what you have.
[00:21:29] Speaker D: Thank you, I appreciate that. Bring the wine.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Oh, well, don't worry, she makes the fashion decision, so you can better believe I'll be bringing her.
[00:21:36] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for being here. Thank you and thanks everyone here for listening and watching. And we'll be back with more of the show in just a moment.
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[00:23:29] Speaker A: Gaming builds real skills for real careers in esports and beyond.
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[00:23:56] Speaker A: Learn more at fibergamingnetwork.com it's time now to throw the microphone over to Mr. Justin Malden as we do each and every episode for a little segment we affectionately like to call Justin's Tech Tips. Justin is all yours.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Listen, we love staying up to date and we have information at the ready with our devices. If you want to know something, just pick it up. And you know, at some point I think saying Google it is going to go away, especially with the advent of technology.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: But we have information at our fingertips all the time, which is a great thing. But sometimes it can be distracting. It can take away our focus and whatever we may have priorities and you know, it's sitting here in the midst of this before I've had my phones went off, I did not turn my notifications off and we're in the midst of filming a segment and my phone is dinging. For me, it's trying to distract me. But we can take some steps to manage that, to prioritize some things so that we don't get so distracted and.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: To keep us focused.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Yes, yes. You need, you need to be able to focus on the task at hand. Right. Which I struggle with at times.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: I think we all do.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: That's why I have to have these things, because I have to remind myself and if I'm scattered brains and I'm all over the place and getting distracted, I have a tendency to forget where I'm at or maybe skip over a step. So, you know, being able to focus a little bit better using the proper settings in our smartphones, within our laptops, computers, whatever devices we have that you first can start at the device level, doesn't matter if you were on an Android device or you're on an Apple device, they have settings in there where you can manage notifications and you can do it at the high level using something called do not disturb, as I said. And, and listen, all these do not disturb is terminology used with both Apple and Android, but some of them, they have a few other things. So you can set settings that are different for work. For instance, you know, while I'm at work, most of my notifications are turned off, except if I do get a notification from the, from the missus, that's.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: Going to come through higher levels, higher.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Hierarchy, if you will. Yes. Yeah. So her, her, if she sends me a message, it will come through the majority of other people. I'm not seeing your message. Right. It's, it's turned off, you know, so, so again, I'm not getting disturbed and being taken away from, from what's going on with my task at work. If you have a child that's in school or if you're in your vehicle, for instance, you know, for me, if you try to message me When I'm out, you're going to get an automatic return that says, hey, I'm driving. I'll see this message whenever I arrive at my destination.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I've seen other people send those to me and yes, and I assumed it was some kind of automatic feature.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: It's automatic reply. Again, you can set this up in any, any smartphone has this capability and you know, it lets them know, hey, something's happening. In my case it says, hey, I'm driving. If this is urgent, just go ahead and give me a call. That way you call me, I can use my hands free device and you'll still be able to get a hold.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Your eyes on the road and yes, your mind in the game.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Yes, from a distraction standpoint that's important, especially with what we see with crash statistics nowadays. And if you are watching anything, chances are you have seen some sort of campaign saying don't be a distracted driver.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Because it is such a prevalent thing now where, you know, years ago it may be, well, somebody was dozing, dozing off or you know, there may have been something. Now the majority of accidents, especially with younger people, it's because they have a device in their hand. First and foremost that is not legal.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: To be doing it is against the law.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Against the law, first and foremost. But you also have something to help you. Not only should you not already be doing that, but you have something because we have a tendency. And don't look at how often you pick up your device because you may have that turned on in your smartphone. When that phone buzzes, what's the first thing? It's second nature. Right. Without thinking, let me grab that.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Right.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: And so you can, you can do that. All these are things you can do at the device level. But also something else that you can do is prioritize your apps based on priority. Do you really need to be getting that notification every 30 seconds from that app that says we have a sale today, check us out. We have a sale today, check us out.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: I couldn't agree more. For these. Yeah, I've done this myself.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Here's, here's a, here's a new video for somebody that you're subscribed to. Look at. Here's a new video, check this out. They want you, all those app developers want you to keep those notifications on because they want to get you to open it up and be in their device because that's going to help them, you know, with usage and generate revenue, usually through ads. So they want you to do it.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I've noticed that eBay is very loud. If you ever go to their app for a week or so just to check one thing, for the next two weeks, you're getting notifications of hey, this is on sale. Did you know it?
[00:28:58] Speaker B: You may have missed this. You watched this, you looked at this, they lowered the price of this. Limited time only. This is on sale.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Yes, marketers, yes, devices really want you to turn notifications on as well.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: For instance, there's a specific game that I play, there's a mobile game and every time I load it, the first thing it does is, oh, you missed this. If you had notifications turned on, you wouldn't have missed them.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: I'm not trying to guilt you.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: I don't want the notifications turned on. So you can manage notifications so that only the things that are really important that maybe you, you are actually going to want to be notified by come through. And then even within that you, you can do it to where maybe you get notified. Like for, for me, for instance, on emails, my emails don't pop up, but I do have the little badge that tells me how many unread emails I have.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Right. More of a summary.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Of things.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: And, and speaking of summaries, now as it's progressing, it's getting a little bit better. Your devices will summarize notifications for you as well. You can turn those features on so that you don't have as many. And even in Apple now it has it to where you can turn on a specific Apple intelligence feature that will, based on your habits, only feed you what it thinks are the important things to you. So you can personalize it, you can use the AI, you can go into the apps themselves, whatever it may be. Try it so that you are not so distracted, I think as the world. And we've talked about cleaning up digital clutter on this show before, this is a little bit bigger deep dive into notifications. But we could all probably take an inventory of the things that are on our devices. Maybe we just need to delete apps. Maybe we need to change notifications. Maybe we need to set some limits to, to what we're doing right. So that we're just a little bit less distracted.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: Let's take more control over our devices instead of having them control us. Right, that's.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: That, that is, that is exactly right. These, you talked about marketers earlier, these app developers, they know what is going to drive their usage and they will hit you with these little things.
Here's just a little bit. Oh, didn't you like that? Here's another one. Didn't you like that? Yeah, they, they know. They know what they're doing. It's a battle that unfortunately, I think we all know maybe I should use my devices less. But then we're battling. The other side is developers want you to use their app all the time. So how do we, how do we find that middle ground in that happy medium?
[00:31:30] Speaker A: I like it. And with me today for this segment of the Local click, we have Ms. Jennifer Sykes with Infinity Athletics in Smithville.
[00:31:39] Speaker D: Hello.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: How are you doing today?
[00:31:40] Speaker C: Great. Thanks for having me.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: Thank you so much for being on the program. Introduce yourself to everyone. Tell us about yourself and how Infinity Athletics got started.
[00:31:49] Speaker C: My name's Jennifer Sykes and I have been running infinity athletics for 17 years. Our doors opened 17 years ago, actually February 4th, so just in a few days.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: That's a milestone.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: Yes, it's a strange story. I had played fast pitch basketball and football cheer at DeKalb High School. And football cheer was not necessarily my favorite. It was just something more to pass the time until basketball started and I happened to be good at it and went to college, changed my major after being there for two years and nothing transferred over.
So I thought, well, I guess I could try cheer at Tennessee Tech. And I didn't think I would make the team, but I did and I thought, okay, I'll go to one practice and then I'll quit. And I went and I loved it. And I stayed and needed a job and I went to a local gymnastics facility where my sister and I both had used to train and got offered a job there while I was taking classes because I, I loved you. Just really enjoyed, I enjoyed being there and I enjoyed the little ones. And in that I was in, I was in, had an education degree. It's what I was going to tech for. And I was starting to get uneasy as we got in to the end of the, you know, closer and closer to graduation about. I just don't know that I want to teach necessarily right now, right out of school. And I really enjoyed this spark in a child's eye when they got a new skill. And I thought, this is what I want to go do. So I did finish my degree and but used it to open a business in Smithville because that is where I'm from. And I wanted to take what I had learned at Victory Sports Center. They're wonderful people. I wanted to take what I had learned there and open it in my hometown. So that is pretty much it.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: It sounds like really sports and gymnastics and, and cheering and all those things have really been a part of your entire life one way or the other.
[00:33:54] Speaker C: Yes, yes. I enjoy sports very, very much.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: And you must enjoy people too because you know, it's all about those people, relationships and one on one instruction. You really get close to your students and that sort of thing when you're around them all that time and trying to help them learn a skill.
[00:34:10] Speaker C: So yes, yes. And it's enjoy watching them grow, not just in the skill set but as a person. We are to the point now where some of my first employees are bringing in their children and it's comes full circle. It's, it's bittersweet, it's a blessing and it's wonderful.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: And you see sometimes like siblings too, right? Sometimes it's not just one child. You see the entire family show up.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: Oh yes.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: What are some of the types of programs that you offer there at Infinity?
[00:34:39] Speaker C: Sure. We start at ages 18 months and that's a parent child class. That's more, more for bonding if we're one parent, one child. And then we go up to a preschool age and then it goes from there, goes up to different classes separated by skill, some also by age for obvious reasons.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: And then these are all gymnastics types classes.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: It's all tumbling. All tumbling classes. Okay. Parent child and preschool are geared towards tumbling, but also a little more towards coordination, waiting their turn, learning how to follow directions, important skills in life no.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Matter what you're doing.
[00:35:20] Speaker C: Yes. And it's. And it's good. And then we have other programs that we do that are more events. We do a lot of birthday parties. We really enjoy birthday parties. We try to make them stress free for the parents. And so we have a huge inflatable and the kids get to play on all of our equipment in a little different setting than what they do in classes. We also have events usually once a month called Kids Night out, where the parents drop the kids off on a Friday night for a few hours. And we do something similar to the birthday party. We do camps and clinics a lot. We have a lot of special guests. I've. Over the years I've gotten to know a lot of probably bigger names in the, in the cheer industry, more of the college level. So we have a lot of guys that come in and stunt do co ed stunting and so we do quite a bit of those.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: It's kind of an honor to have that type of talent in Smithville.
[00:36:10] Speaker C: It is, it's fun. I can get almost anybody, almost anybody I want really to come in and they, they Just enjoy it. They love Smithfield. They love to come visit, especially in the summer and go to the marinas and eat.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: They love a bad place to be, is it?
[00:36:25] Speaker C: No. They love going to some of the stores of downtown. They love the coffee shops so it's not hard getting them to want to here.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: That's great. That's good to hear too. We like that, don't we? Yes, we like it when visitors like to be in our town. What's the vast variety from one end to the other of age groups that you may typically work with?
[00:36:41] Speaker C: Sure. Well, we have a. We have parent child ages 18 months and that stops at 2. So 18 months and 2 year olds or up to 2 year olds are coming there with their parents. And they're all short or small classes. We keep them small on purpose so we can give a little as much attention as possible.
The preschool classes are ages three and four and those are by themselves. They're not with a parent. Those are also. We try not to put more than six in a class or keep those class sizes small. Now once they hit five, we go up just a little bit in our number because we can handle a little more of that. But we have quite a few of those classes. Parent, child, Preschool and our 5 to 7 year old classes like our foundations, the beginner classes do stay full and we are always having to change the schedule and add some classes as needed. And we also do a lot of the higher level handsprings and aerial skills such as tucks and layouts and fulls. Those, those classes stay full. But there aren't as many of those of course as you get to a higher level. But the oldest child we have There is about 18. They usually stop around 18 going to college. We're not a college town. So they typically move off.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: Yeah, they're not close enough to keep that going, unfortunately that time. Yeah. Describe in more detail about your facilities. I mean I saw some of the photos on your website and it really looks awesome. I mean you guys did a great job with the setup.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Thank you. That was in my mind for about 10 years before I ever decided to build it. And I had it really the way I wanted it for a while in my head. But I wish I could sit here and tell you I remember the square footage. I believe it. I know it's a little over 6,000 square feet, but. But we have a 20 foot eve high on the sides and about 30 in the middle so that we have a parent viewing area up top. That was one of the things that I wanted so they could see the entire gym. And then we have a full size spring floor for cheer squads to come use. We have quite a few cheer squads that want to come use it if they want to get ready for their competitions. And then we have a 36 foot ninja rig, kind of like a ninja warrior course.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Oh, that's fun.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: And we had wonderful people at New Frontiers came in and built us. I wanted a rock wall on our ninja rig. So we have a custom rock wall with cargo nets and ropes and different courses that they've set up and attachments that I can put on the rig. The boys love that. For birthday parties and the events we do, we also have a 40 foot tumble or trampoline. It's called a tumble track but it's a 40 foot trampoline that goes into a large foam block pit.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: I bet that's popular.
[00:39:20] Speaker C: The parents always ask to go in it and as long as there's not a lot going on, I tell them they can if they empty their pockets. Because what goes in that fit I probably will never get back out. And we have the inflatable is a big hit with the events because it's 40 foot long by 14ft high. And it's the so large inflatable that you have to crawl through with the ginormous slide at the end. So.
[00:39:39] Speaker A: Well, you gotta have a big ending on one of those types of things.
[00:39:42] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Now do you have to always be signed up for some kind of training program to use all of those facilities or do you have certain moments where you have like an open gym where people can come and participate just for the fun of it?
[00:39:54] Speaker C: I actually can't believe I forgot. We do have Open Gym and that's. That's very popular. That's usually we change it up. You'd have to look at our website or you can look if they have the app. We have an app that's very user friendly and it lets you know when, when you can sign up and when events like Open Gym are. It's normally right now it's on Thursdays at 5. But those you don't have to be a member for anything other than a class but in order to have a birthday party. In fact, most of our birthday parties aren't even with members of the gym. It's boys.
Of course. The girls typically are the ones who go there. But kids not out Open Gym birthday parties, you don't have to be a member of the gym. We love as many people to come in and use it as they can.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: I think that's a, a that's something that's really intriguing that I think a lot of local people probably don't know is even there that I think this.
[00:40:44] Speaker C: It's one of the biggest questions I get actually is do we have to be a member to go to this? No, you don't have to. And one of the programs we actually started that I have been very blessed to have a wonderful. She was a former employee, a former student with me and then an employee and now I actually work with her husband at the middle school. Macy Noakes runs our morning Tumble program and it's Tiny Tumble and that's on Wednesday mornings from 10 to 11 and it is for 18 months to about 5. It's non school age children that get to come in and do open gym with their, with a parent or with an adult and they just have free time and she chaperones and that's become a, a good fun little hit because the younger ones don't typically they're in a very strict setup but for obvious reasons they're small. We need to keep them safe from the other classes that are going on. So in that one hour in the morning situation it's all of them and they seem to really enjoy that.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: I can only imagine the smile on these kids faces and they probably look forward to it each week when that time comes around they're like alright, I get to go back and have fun again.
[00:41:45] Speaker C: Definitely. She takes some really good videos and she does my media for me as well and she does a good job.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. It's good to have people that enjoy having fun on staff because you need to have fun when you're doing these kinds of things.
[00:41:57] Speaker C: We have a few that are High schoolers at DeKalb in Warren county and they, they are precious and we're very blessed to have all of them.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: Well, somebody wanted to host a party and you said you could go on the app. On your app and yeah like availability. Is that how that works or how. How far in advance do you typically.
[00:42:14] Speaker C: Like to get this time reservations with it not being, you know, it's cold outside so swimming pools aren't easy to get to. So from December through March we tend to stay pretty booked. I, I do recommend reaching out to us about a month in advance is the better bet to make sure staff can be there. We don't have a place to actually sign up yet for a birthday party. You just have to reach out so that we can make sure that nothing in the staff's Schedule has changed so we have enough coaches to make it because we really try to make those parties stress free for the parents and that's one of the biggest compliments that we get is thank you. This was just so much fun to just watch our kid enjoy it and we didn't have to do any of the work.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: And you feel safe with them there. You feel like you can just let your guard down for a minute and just let the kids be kids.
[00:43:02] Speaker C: Yes. And let us, let us, let us worry about what if they're following the rules. Let us handle that part.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Right. Yeah, it's good for them too. They learn how, you know to be respectful and follow the rules in addition to having fun. Fun can't be everything in life. You do have a few rules you have to learn how to follow and this sort of thing from time to time.
[00:43:20] Speaker C: And I should say too, you can, you can access any of our classes or any. The account side. You don't have to have the app. You can also just go to our website and that will take them to a parent portal and they can access their classes, what we offer, their billing and everything from there as well. The app is more. If you are looking to make sure that you're notified of everything that we're doing okay then that, that's a little bit. And it's quicker to get to your.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: Account for communication based kind of. Yeah, I know we were talking about apps. I mean it's perfectly in to technology and. And I'm sure you guys aren't immune to the need of using technology to make things run a little bit smoother on a day to day basis. How do you approach technology and how you run your business?
[00:44:06] Speaker C: We will, I will be honest, it has been interesting since COVID Phone calls, we don't get a lot. We, we do get phone calls but we mainly get emails and Facebook messages or messages through the meta suite. On a business side, Facebook works a little bit differently and it does a very good job of not letting us forget and it makes it very user friendly for our business owner to see what is needed and what needs attention as far as any messages that you get. And it keeps a lot of spam out too, which you don't get with email.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: I hadn't really thought of that. That's a good benefit.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: We actually, when you call, we try to really press that. We will call you back. But the best way to get in touch with us is through Facebook messenger because it really does a great job. Covid has made it easy that parents Just expect it now. So that part has made it. It's been interesting to see the switch.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: Things are changing, aren't they?
[00:45:03] Speaker C: Yes, yes. And then how they pay, how they set up their billing is again, has just. People don't ask for as much help as what they used to. And not that we ever minded, but it's been very interesting how that almost just fell off.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: People are used to it more now.
[00:45:19] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
[00:45:20] Speaker C: It's been an interesting transition.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: That's neat. It's nice to see you guys just jumping in with it too and not being shy with it, you know, and that's where people are going. And you're heading you and pushing your business in that same direction to follow their wants and their wishes and how they want to do business.
[00:45:35] Speaker C: We didn't really have much of a choice. It got so big so quickly. That was just almost the only thing we could do. Otherwise we would be on the phone 247 instead of being able to coach classes and run programs.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: So you do that so you have more time to do the fun part, right?
[00:45:49] Speaker C: Yes, definitely.
[00:45:50] Speaker A: Makes total sense. Well, tell us, everyone listening and watching, if they want to learn more about Infinity Athletics, what's the best way to do that?
[00:45:59] Speaker C: They can go to our website. We do try to keep that updated as often as possible. That's just infinityathletics.com I was lucky enough to get that.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: That's a good one. Yeah.
[00:46:07] Speaker C: Yeah. No one else had it at the time, so I've been able to keep it.
Our social media stays pretty up to date. And then if the app they can download, if they're interested in all the events we have and keeping up when it's released. And because a lot of them, our spots are limited because we really try to make sure we keep it safe and to where we can keep an eye on things. I don't.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: The right people ratio and that sort of thing.
[00:46:28] Speaker C: Yes, we do. And so the app is a great. A great way to do that. You can download the app from our website, but our website has a lot of information on it that is very helpful. And of course you can always call or message and we can. We're always happy to help answer any questions.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: Well, that's great. That's great. Well, you're doing a lot of fun things there. I kind of want to just be a big kid and just jump in the phone blocks one day. Would that be okay? I promised to empty my pockets.
[00:46:50] Speaker C: I was already saying all, just empty your pockets. And that's all. You need to do.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: Okay. It's a done deal. All right. No cameras, though, because we don't. I don't think the world needs.
[00:46:57] Speaker C: I've got cameras inside the gym.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on the program, and good luck on your future business success with everything.
[00:47:05] Speaker C: Thank you. I appreciate you having me. We had a good time. Thank you.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: No problem. No problem. Everyone, stay tuned. We've got more of the program coming up.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Do you know what room the router's in? I can't get onto my Zoom meeting.
[00:47:16] Speaker D: Tried in our spacious new family room.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: Okay, still not working.
[00:47:24] Speaker D: Try it in our beautiful backyard.
[00:47:27] Speaker B: Still nothing. Your new home.
[00:47:30] Speaker A: Checked everything off your list except for Internet from DTC.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: Oh, come on. Sign
[email protected] for fast and reliable Internet.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Welcome back, everyone. It's time to let Justin have the microphone again for a part of the show we like to call Tech News Roundup.
[00:47:55] Speaker B: Listen. They're at it again. It's happening. There's big news again. In a world that we don't ever talk about, the world of artificial intelligence.
[00:48:04] Speaker A: I had a feeling you may be so leading us.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: Big things have happened in AI recently, and. And, you know, the news, and everything is so dynamic and changing all the time. But there's been a disruption lately in. In AI, and it comes from a Chinese startup company that has launched a new AI model that it's not just competing with the other major AI products that are already out there. It's also doing it cheaper, which is big in the space. When we're talking about integrating AI into other things, being able to do it cheaper means a lot.
[00:48:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: And so this startup is called Deep Seek. And so they launched their Deep Seek R1AI model, and it has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley. It sent shockwaves through Wall street because other companies that have competing products, their stock actually suffered as a result.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: Once this product was announced, it was that big of a disruptor that it is having an actual effect on the stock market itself. So. So people are paying attention to this. It's very interesting to see. Of course, there's concerns because it is a Chinese startup. It's unknown. It's an unknown Chinese startup. And given the geopolitical climate that we are currently in, there may be some questions as to that. And there has already been some talk and examination of maybe some of the security within Deep Seq. But the thing that is really setting it apart from others right now is it has an open Source model. Now it doesn't have an open source model in the sense that every piece of code is open source, but it operates under a license where you don't need permission to share stuff and do stuff and, and be able to take it and utilize it wherever you want to. Basically it's a. You can use this in whatever you want to integrate it into whatever value attach to using no price attached to it. It.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: That is a big deal.
[00:50:01] Speaker B: And so that make. Yeah, that makes a difference because some of these other models, you know, have some cost associated with them. And speaking of other models, OpenAI in response also just recently announced a new chat GPT model. And so they have announced the O3 mini model. And what's interesting about this is for the first time it's a new model and they're making it available to all users. You don't have to be a paid user of Chat GPT, even their free users. Now you have a limited amount of queries per day that you can do. I think it said at 150, but.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: It'S still a lot.
[00:50:38] Speaker B: Correct. And right off the bat you can use it without having to pay out a dime to it. And they haven't done that in the past. Usually when they do these more advanced models you have to pony up a little bit.
[00:50:50] Speaker A: Yeah. To be able to utilize to that or something.
[00:50:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So that there is a little bit of a cost. You can pay so much personal mini cores or you can pay a monthly cost that gives you access to so many.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:51:00] Speaker B: But it's very interesting that you already see a response for them doing a new model.
[00:51:05] Speaker A: That didn't take very long, did it?
[00:51:06] Speaker B: Yeah, and it's, and it's a little bit more capable. I mean every time Chat GPT updates, you know, it gets a little bit more efficient. It can do a little bit more things, it's quicker. And so this was a really quick response by OpenAI to this and I'm sure because we talked about the disruption, you know, they needed to respond quick and they not only introduced the model but again it's the making it free for the users no matter what. You don't have to be a paid user. So it's going to be very interesting to see as everybody juggles for this.
[00:51:38] Speaker A: I think a lot of our listeners and viewers, if you've never kind of toyed with AI when asking questions, doing research tasks, simple tasks such as writing a paragraph about something or whatever, if you've never really messed with it, it's worth a try just to Dip your toe in the water and check it out.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: I used it. I used AI to help me create it within Excel. A macro.
So our monthly church service schedule. I helped it write the macro for me.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:52:09] Speaker B: So that we. So we can generate our church service schedule using an Excel macro. And I can change the data as people decide they want to do other things. Things within that. But I run it and that's something.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: It would take a long time if you're. If you don't use Excel a lot in writing macros and that sort of thing, you just saved yourself a ton of time. Yeah.
[00:52:28] Speaker B: And literally I had an AI model that helped me do that. And now, now it helped me write that to help me be more efficient at other things. But again, I wouldn't. It would have taken me so much longer to do it. And there was some tweaking and things that I had to do to it, but it helped as a starting point to get it there. And I think that's one of the uses that people overlook is you can utilize this to help you get started as launching point.
[00:52:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: For a lot of other things you need to be careful because it does not always give accurate data, does not always give fact.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: Check your work, so to speak, data.
[00:52:59] Speaker B: Do not be like the, the. There was an attorney one time who faced what's called sanctions in the legal profession because he used Chat GP GPT and Chat GPT quoted fictitious lawsuits with, for. For this attorney and he did not check it and made a filing with the court that did not include real citation. So you got to be careful with it as well. You know, it looked good on paper. Yes, it did. It looked good and it was enough to convince him, apparently. But you could tell the judge was doing his job because when he went to look into this and the file, he's like, I can't find these anywhere. And there was a reason for that. They did not exist. You know, that's funny. And then we're going to talk about the thing that probably had a lot of people riled up last month, at least for a couple days.
I don't know what some people probably did for two days or a day or whatever it was, I don't know. But that was a tick tock ban. I don't know how long it actually lasted because I myself do not have Tick tock, don't have a Tick Tock account. So if you're one of my friends who send me tick tocks, I don't like those because every time I open it, it Tries to get me to download the app. Don't want to download the app.
But Tick Tock did the ban did go into effect January 19th? Yeah, I think it actually now if I remember correctly, it went into effect late on January or they turned off the service late January 18th to comply. And I don't even think it was January 20th before it was, it was back on.
President Trump did give them an extension. So the ban is not gone, has not gone away.
[00:54:40] Speaker A: It's just delayed.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: It is just delayed. Is it an extension in, in the delay to see if something can be worked out? As it still stands, unless something is worked out, the, the ban will go back into effect. And so to refresh everyone's mind, the reason this happened is Congress passed a law that banned anything owned by the parent company of TikTok bit dance. And it actually banned TikTok and also cap Cut, which is a video editing tool that a lot of people use, was also a part of the ban as well. We focus so heavily on TikTok but also this because they're owned, it was anything owned by that parent company and that was due to some national security concerns and privacy concerns and data harvesting and things like that. So though it is still up in the air. So if you are a heavy Tick Tock user, we don't know what's going to happen yet.
As it officially stands, that ban is still going to take place unless something changes. So something, something may change.
You know, it be interesting to, to see what the, what the outcome of that is. There's been talks of deals of Tick Tock selling, you know, to, to another parent company because it's not Tick Tock that is banned. It is the parent company operating anything within the United States. That is the call.
[00:56:03] Speaker A: So maybe an American ownership situation could occur.
[00:56:06] Speaker B: So, and there's been, and there's been some talks of that and I know that there's been some individuals who have stated that they have publicly have cash offers and made some sort of offer to Tick Tock.
[00:56:18] Speaker A: I think Kevin O'Leary might be involved.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Yes, Kevin O'Leary has made a talk of it. Elon Musk, he's bought a, he, he loves startup, he's, he's bought other social media platforms in the past. So that, that wouldn't be surprising. So it'll be interesting to see.
[00:56:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:34] Speaker B: To see what happens. I know from a Tick Tock user standpoint, they hope that something can be done because those individuals love Tick Tock. And you know, we've, we've spoken, you know, with businesses here and even today.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: Even in this episode. Yes.
[00:56:51] Speaker B: Who utilize TikTok. You know, I don't have TikTok personally, but there are beneficial uses to TikTok, you know, and, and people enjoy using it. And, you know, so there, there's, there's positive things to TikTok and it's not, again, it's not the app itself. It's the parent company behind the scenes and some of those national security concerns. That's the issue. The government's not trying to take away your ability to, to make your videos and watch other people.
[00:57:17] Speaker A: Right. That's not the point of it.
[00:57:19] Speaker B: Yes. No.
[00:57:20] Speaker A: Thanks, Justin. I really appreciate it. We're going to take a little break away from tech news and we're going to talk about DTC and all the great things and places we'll be at during the month of February in the segment we call what's up dtc? And for February, you can find us at the Southern Home and Garden show, which will be on February 2nd, 7th and 8th. That'll be at the Farm Bureau Expo center located at 9:45 East Badoor Parkway in Lebanon. And then as far as DTC three specific things going on in February. Of course, high school basketball tournaments are just around the corner. So make sure you keep in touch with us on our website at DTC3TV to find out our programming schedule for the different tournament games that will be recording for later playback on DTC channel 3. And then another thing that we don't really talk about a lot is our local sports show called the Box Score. If you have not checked out the Bot Score, you need to do so what are you waiting on? We've got some great discussions about high school sports, and it's not always just football and basketball. We touch on other sports as well. But you can catch Terry Collins and the Guru Murphy Fair each Thursday at 6pm on DTC3. That's Channel 3, or 303 on the DTC TV service. But you can also subscribe to the DTC3 YouTube channel and watch every weekly episode there on YouTube. You don't even have to be a DTC3 subscriber to catch that. Or you can follow DTC Communications on our Facebook page and we post each weekly episode of the Box Score there as well. So we hope if you haven't checked it out, maybe you'll swing over there each Thursday at 6 o'clock and watch our weekly episode. And on that note, I think we're going to wrap it up for the month of February Great job as always, Justin. Appreciate having you with us on the program, and thanks for always walking down this technology road with me each and every month.
[00:59:18] Speaker B: Hey, always glad to be here with you and hope that everybody else will subscribe and tune in next time.
[00:59:22] Speaker A: And on that note, we'll say so long and Happy February to each and every one of you. Learn more about the show by visiting us online at the localclick. Com. Also, be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast or video platform so you won't miss our next episode of the Local Click. See you next month.
