Ankeny Podcast: Recent Episodes

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I'm hosting Trivia every Sunday night from 6 PM to 8 PM at Trailside Tap in Uptown in Ankeny, IA, come on down. https://trailsidetap.com/

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In this episode, I highlight DMACC, Iowa Chiropractice, Iowa Rush Soccer Club, NACF, Cazador, and ACE Hardware as well continue to try to support local businesses amidst the coronavirus. 

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I'm Tony Guerra, a professor at DMACC, and I wanted to share some of the places we're going to in trying to support local businesses. In this episode, I highlight DMACC, Trail Point, North Ankeny CrossFit, Magees Irish Pub, Main Street Cafe and Bakery, The Outside Scoop, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and more. If you have an open business and want to send me a 1 to 2 minute mp3 file, I can publish it in the next episode, no charge. Send the file or a link to Dropbox, etc. aaguerra@dmacc.edu 

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Bringing back the Ankeny Podcast as the Ankeny Fitness Podcast with best practices and best places to get in shape and stay in shape. I'm going to start off by talking about the CrossFit Open at my box, North Ankeny CrossFit, you can learn more about them here:

https://www.northankenycrossfit.com/

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Jenner White is the Program Director of i9 sports offering youth sports programs in Ankeny, Des Moines, Johnston, Urbandale, and Waukee. 

As an i9 Sports Program Director, his goal is to provide a well-organized, entertaining, and educational coed sports program for Des Moines area kids ages three and up. With a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Administration from Simpson College, youth sports have always been a passion of his. He believes that participation in an organized youth sports activity is about more than just kids playing sports; it’s about creating an unforgettable experience in organization, convenience, instruction, and fun. Here at i9 Sports – Greater Des Moines they are committed to not only providing your child with a terrific sporting event, but he is also committed to delivering a superior customer service experience to the parents. I would love it if you and your family chose to join our i9 family!

Office: 515-987-4750 / Weather Hotline: 888-867-2055

Email: leagueoffice213@i9sports.com

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Jennifer Meurer has been an Ankeny pharmacist for almost a decade at Medicap just off of 1st and Delaware. I talk to her about becoming an independent pharmacist, the joys she has in serving the Ankeny community, and the unique services her pharmacy provides. 

https://www.mymedicappharmacy.com/ankeny

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I interview Sara Volkmann, one of the owners of Cafe Diem in Ankeny Iowa. Cafe Diem is in Ankeny and Ames and Cafe X and Campus grounds are two satellite locations on the DMACC campus. Say hi to Sara as you go in for your workout at Trail Point Aquatic and Fitness Center. 

http://cafe-diem.com

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Jobs and schools are two primary reasons people choose to move into a community. Northeast elementary students show what they've learned in leadership with the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Kids. I thought this podcast would be mostly about business owners, but really it's just about ordinary Ankeny people doing extraordinary things. 

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I sit down with business owner Randy Wee of Wee's Tees to talk about his entrepreneurial journey.

https://www.weestees.com/

PHR 185 Pharmacology at DMACC now has a 2nd section as we quickly filled the first section. It's completely online, a 10-week course, and you can find more information here:

https://www.dmacc.edu/programs/pdp/pre-pharmacy/Pages/online-pharmacology-class.aspx

Trail Point is opening a number of new sessions for summer, check them out here:

http://www.mytrailpoint.com/Pages/programs.aspx

Full Transcript:

Welcome to the Ankeny Podcast I'm gonna be talking to Randy Wee of Wees Tees in

just a minute, but before that I just want to let you know that we opened up a

second pharmacology section PHR 185 Pharmacology for a 10-week summer class, so if you know someone that's pre-nursing, pre-med, or pre-pharmacy or is going to PA school and is really concerned about pharmacology class that's usually who we get in the class so we've opened up another section, classes start in just a week and a half here at DMACC but that class is fully online and ten weeks long. Trail Point has just sent out their new email so I know they have a number of summer programs that are just opening up they changed the way they do swim Academy though so just to let you know they change from seven weeks sessions to two week sessions Monday through Friday or Monday Friday and then Monday Thursday same time every day but you can go to their website to check the swim Academy offerings and then also all the other programs they have over summer they have nanny passes available so if your nanny needs to take the kiddos down to trail point and it's relatively inexpensive I think it was like 60 bucks and then as far as the summer basketball league I think they're still registration closes May 20th so you just register either online or at the membership desk.

They are open on Memorial Day 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and then the Kids Zone is open 8:00 a.m. at 12 p.m. in the competition pool 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. there will be a full closure notice or they're closing the leisure pulled the family pool in the back from Saturday, May 19th to Sunday

June 3rd for maintenance but I think the competitive pool still be open so if you want to do and things like that that's still a possibility and then they posted their summer hours all right well I don't want to belabor that but I just want to let you know about those updates with trail point and then again pharmacology class and then if you want to take chemistry with me I'm also

teaching two sections in Ankeny and fall one section in Newton and I also teach pharmacology and fall so just get in touch with me at aaguerra@dmacc.edu and now let's get started with the show.

Okay, well welcome to the Ankeny Podcast I am here on South Ankeny Boulevard with the owner of Wees Tees Randy Wee and I just want to say first welcome to the Ankeny Podcast. Well, thank you very much. I'm excited to be a part of this and I'm looking forward to being involved. So, let's start with your entrepreneurial journey everyone's entrepreneurial journey is a little bit

different most people start with maybe a job and then they end up working for themselves tell me a little bit about your transition um mine was kind of accidental actually I used to coach college baseball and in-between jobs at UNI and Northern Illinois I took a job selling screen printing and athletic clothing for a company called Kraft Cochrane and then I left that continue college coaching and then after I left education in 2008 I worked for a non-profit and work from home and I had a lot of downtime a lot of time to hate to figure out what I was gonna do so my

boss would always tell me to take walks but instead I wanted to figure out a way to make money. Okay, so I started selling athletic clothing and team clothing out of out of my house and going around visiting people and did that for a couple years and just took off okay well what was your mission at the outset you know in terms of so did you just want to work focus on high school teams college teams how did you decide what you're gonna do local how did you kind of decide what your niche was initially my niche was just dealing with with youth teams okay and then some of my friends that coach high school baseball ideal some of their stuff but then it really took off when I did the season finale shirt for the University of Northern Iowa baseball they dropped baseball. I did their last ever shirt for their program and business kind of took off and you know and then I had a friend it kept saying I went on a screen printing shop Karl Chambers my business partner he kept saying you bug me for two years okay let's see what we can do okay okay I'm from the East Coast so I'm used to going down to Ocean City and every year they would obviously have you know spring break or you know this year this summer it would be twenty well back then it would be like 1984 1985 1986 so what other I guess in terms of businesses did you have any business experience before you started Wees Tees because the failure rate on businesses is like you know after a year it's like one survives out of ten and then five years later another one ten percent of those survive how did you do so well so quickly well I think there are several factors one it's just dumb luck I had no business experience I had never taken a business class okay I was in education I so I think luck was one two there was a demand for it there's a huge demand for a custom clothing in a lot of different areas in the metro and then I think three I hired really good people and you know I like to say we scared more business away our first couple years by not knowing how to do things oh and so the last four years four and a half years has been awesome for us with the right staff with the right process with good customer service.

But I'm

serious I feel very lucky too

we borrowed credit cards I stole from my

personal savings and we started a

business and it was very very lucky okay

okay well everyone once you become a

business owner in town people think it

was all pretty easy

[Laughter]

oh it all worked out now that your your

great success you know I see you're

building the golf course in the back

yeah

but what what was the biggest challenge

that you had cuz most entrepreneurs if

they can survive that big challenge

there's usually one thing or one day or

one week or one month that just was wow

that was just that was really rough and

we made it you know the biggest

challenge honestly was not knowing what

I need to know okay so many times I

would not know what to do and tell the

situation arose go I never thought that

situation ever gonna arise you can't

write a business plan about what you

don't know yes and I wrote them things

and we've plans of things but you know

how to handle different situations and

we made lots of mistakes we booked

equipment in and inside on a bunch of

equipment for a year we you know we've

made some bad decisions but I've got a

you know I survived because of our staff

because of our customers and all because

I've I have a really intelligent and

kind business partner Karl Chambers who

helps me figure things out on a regular

basis okay well most of the great

companies do have business partners and

I don't want to put you into tech but

you know Microsoft there was really two

or three of them you know Apple same

thing there's two of them and and what

is your role the when partners come

together usually one has one as I don't

say more outgoing but one tends to talk

with the public one tends to like to be

more behind-the-scenes where are you and

what is your favorite role as part of a

business well I coral is a silent

partner he comes and we meet once or

twice a week doesn't really have

anything to do with the business except

provide advice and give suggestions and

be a sounding board and then I run the

day-to-day operations and do a lot of

the sales so I'm the one that's actively

involved okay and then how many

employees do you have

we fluctuate between six and eight okay

depending on the season okay and then in

terms of you know what products you

offer its customer but for example I I

was doing the markets market relay

actually we're doing market to market

relay in 48 hours we're gonna be getting

up at four o'clock went up to Jefferson

coming down 75 miles and it's our third

year doing it but my one of the guys

said oh I want to do the t-shirts I want

to do t-shirts then three weeks before I

was like so to do the t-shirts as I can

I didn't call me back so I said all

right well now I know a guy hey you need

to you need to call him you know we've

got three weeks till it starts tell me a

little bit about how would someone refer

you like when you say okay I do custom

team equipment that's a huge range like

for every sport for high school sports

where would you even start is there a

catalog we have a lot of different

suppliers we have hundreds and hundreds

of suppliers so it's really tough to get

everything in front of everybody we're

trying to work on our website now to do

that but it's our main area is custom

clothing whether it's it's clothing you

wear on your body or on your head

whether it's a team uniform for a

business or for a team for a high school

or college or youth team for sports and

then equipment that goes around around

that area and we do decoration in

towards a screen print embroidery and

then the advertising products the

promotional products that go with that

so we was a singing poster banner a

poster pens koozies you know window

clings you know the chargers for your

phones you can travel and I mean

anything you could put a logo on week

and some things but most things we do

in-house but a lot of things we also do

outside the shop from people that

actually produce those promotional

products but all our decorations grand

printing embroidery heat set is done

in-house but usually the person ordering

these things is not being paid usually

they're a volunteer or maybe they're a

parent maybe they're a coach maybe

they're with a school how what's the

process for someone that comes in with

maybe hey my we need uniforms for the

whole team and then how do you take care

of them during a whole season because my

wife is just commenting on the NBA

season being like 15 months long or

something like that where it's just on

and on and on how do you work with

somebody through the season and then

into the next season typically at the

high school season it's usually six

months ahead when they're doing things

for the teams for the booster clubs it's

usually a month to two months ahead and

then for the elementary schools it's

usually a month ahead for their further

you know their spirit water for their

school but typically people call up

start up with a phone call or an email

and kind of give us an idea what they

want or they stop in and we try to

explain to them that the process is

they need to have an art idea they need

to have a type of clothing idea and once

we have what an idea whether right

before we can put that down and approve

for them and send them out approvals for

the art health sighs them for their

uniform or their clothing for their

whether it's a t-shirt or a baseball or

softball uniform and and then decorate

the garment in depending on what you do

the process can be a week two up to six

to eight weeks you know because there's

four heat setting something it's a lot

quicker then it is if we're getting a

sublimated uniform which can be okay now

you're talking you're talking jargon

yeah

let's start with the difference what's

he'd say well heat set is a vinyl

product you put on your on your clothing

it's usually people think of their name

or numbers is okay but you can also do a

custom decoration find all my girlfriend

in high school I earn my Jersey and I

lost a letter then you have screen

printing which is an ink that you you

press on with the screen printing

machine it's it's squeegee done and you

can do from one color up to depending on

what shop you're at up to 12 or 15

colors and that is typically what people

think of when they think of custom

shirts

there's also transfers that look like

screen printing but they're also iron-on

but they look more like a screen print

then then there's embroidery which is

what you're wearing right now with your

d-mac honors program it's actually

thread that we're sewn onto the shirt so

so as soon as you see someone is the

first thing you look at whatever they

got that shirt oh they printed it and

then even in this cool thing that's

going on right now at the industry

there's their sublimation - which is

actually you get it at a uniform or a

shirt and it's printed out on a roller

and it's dyed into the fabric okay yeah

so it's on the shirt so you can have as

many colors on it as possible but those

machines are so expensive that a lot of

times those are done by the manufacturer

today

and that's a really cool process I know

a lot of times I'll do a race and before

they give me the shirt I'll feel it and

if it feels too raised I won't take it

just because I know it'll

my skin yes so that's the kind of thing

you're talking about where it's just not

gonna bother you you know it's part of

the fabric yeah and then yeah it's but

they're more expensive in the process

the production time of those is anywhere

from 4 to 16 weeks depending on where

you get it from okay all right how did

you decide to be here so I think you

said we're in an old shirts I'm I'm new

to Ankeny I've only been here ten years

so but my wife has been in Ankeny all

her life so 35 years but you started

back in 11 what made you choose here in

the middle of you know on Ankeny

Boulevard well we wanted somewhere with

high traffic flow okay and we also

wanted something that was cost-effective

being a new business and this meant both

those requirements ideally it's not a

great great spot because it's four

different levels okay that's got the

right square footage we have we want but

it's I mean it met those requirements we

have a lot of traffic Luther people

drive by on a regular basis I'm in a

Ridge we're also gonna be able to put a

sign up originally but they turn that

down after the fact that there's no sign

there but you know right now we're out

of space and we're not in really good

functional space all right you're

looking to move and be in more uptown

and I'm Ankeny between the clipper and

and Bryan how long have you been in

Ankeny I grew up here okay and I

graduated in 87 I went to college and

moved away until the fall of 2000 we

moved back from Illinois so can you tell

me a little bit about what's going on

with Uptown because it seems like

there's a resurgence it it was it was

probably pretty well attended when you

were back here in the early eighteen L

[Music]

it seems to be there's some some bit of

resurgence coming back fire trucker I

know is a staple there or so certainly a

place that you can hear say okay well

it's this place from fire trucker and I

know that they're there building down

there what makes you decide to come down

to Uptown I keep wanting to call it

downtown anytime in North Ankeny so it's

downtown for me but it's uptown well

for one it's personal for me growing up

here I think it's an area that needs to

be rejuvenated sure I'm also on the

Uptown Association Board of Directors

okay so uh it's it's a natural fit I

think it's a growing area with the bike

trail with with the pavilions with fire

truck or leading towers up there Walnut

Street gallery uptown food and beverage

the Clipper I mean I there's many more

stores that are really popular there but

they're also doing some new development

in regards to housing and also new

business development that's gonna make

it a lot more attractive area for people

to visit okay well tell me a little bit

about your so is the business just local

so local teams are you statewide are you

national are you international just

always curious to see how far you reach

because obviously it seems like you've

outgrown your space you've it's you've

only been bit I want to say only been in

business seven years but you've

experienced a lot of growth what where's

your market um it's mainly in Polk

County but we do work throughout the

state of Iowa and we also do some orders

in Illinois Missouri Minnesota and even

as far west as California okay but it's

not a predominant part of our business

the only thing internationally do is we

have a couple followers on Facebook

internationally okay website they're

trying to figure out the sublimation

thing oh yeah it looks really cool it's

really cool okay what do you think is

unique about your business you know I

thought about this because there's it

there's thousands of screen printers

decorated across the country and one of

the reasons I opened my business up was

I used to contract printout people okay

as the coach no is it well no like when

I was selling out of my house okay I had

to find printers to print my stuff for

people

okay and the thing I was really

frustrated with was when something went

well I people told me thank you but I

didn't really do it then when something

went wrong I had to take responsibility

for it and it wasn't my funds but most

the time things went wrong I didn't get

something I didn't got something on time

they would lose my product so I think

our on-time percent for screen printing

is over 99%

I mean we we just deliver really yeah I

mean we're really good I mean we don't

we do insult you but that's just

just really high we because it's always

been delayed now if something's late

it's because something's backordered

okay or in the production process we

damaged the government and we get

everything done and then we Reaper the

other government later okay that but I

mean we get everything done on with

screen printing in the things that will

delay screen printing or if somebody

can't give you sizes okay or if they

don't approve art you know so any of

those things to think those things

happen it really delays a process but

once arts approved we're always

delivering you're the person that does

that keeps after them all right you need

to call them again

find out if they approve the artist

doesn't collection manage it follows up

on our artists and also follows up with

other customers and then yeah but ii

think the most unique thing about us is

I think our staff is very stable you

know there's a ton of turnover in this

industry we've had Eric that's been or

six years Jake that's been in six years

Riley and Mike been or two and a half

years Sarah was here for six and a half

years and just left that's a really long

time yeah I know so I think that's

unique about our business as we know our

customers and our customers know us okay

so what you mentioned a little bit of

involvement in the Ankeny community tell

me a little bit more about how you're

involved and how it fits in the business

talking about maybe a little bit more

about uptown or other places that you're

involved so I mean it could be as little

as as much as you know coaching your

kids teams or whatever it is yeah I get

mention I'm in the Uptown Association

I'm also in a BNI group I'm in a another

Power Group that there's business owners

it meets every other week and then I'm

involved in Kiwanis and I try to stay

involved some of the school functions at

the high school level and elementary

level to stay involved with what they're

doing in regards their fundraising and

their booster clubs and then like you

mention I do code I've coached my kids

okay youth teams over the years is that

so just this is no just a personal

question not not with the business I

really struggle to coach my own children

cuz when they when something goes wrong

it's really tough for me to be the

person talking to him do you have an

assistant coach that's like oh this

one's my kid all right can you talk to

him or do have any strategies for that

because I know many parents have to

coach their own kids and it's sometimes

a little bit that's sometimes very tough

you know that was really difficult for

me I've always been one that

my kids gonna play less it'll be harder

on my kid unless everybody else can see

that there's so much better than

everybody because usually most people

coach League right kids get a play all

right so my daughter really struggled

that she said I don't get a coach

anymore for like three years and I

understood that my son is like I don't

care just do what you need to do it's

been it's actually been a struggle

because I I don't think my own kids have

been able to enjoy athletics with me

coaching as much as a lot of people

coach them yeah same with my dad I was

always a midfielder with soccer because

well you can't be the forward because

then I'm showing favoritism yes you'd

have to be all the way in the back so

let's put you as a midfielder that way

you can you can get a goal if you really

struggle but you can't be up front you

know just hitting the easy one unless

you're so much faster but yeah you know

you're putting luck but that didn't

happen that way yeah yeah so well they

say that the entrepreneur is someone who

works 80 hours so they don't have to

work 40 hours for someone else and and

sometimes that's in the pejorative

sometimes it's it's just how it is you

just enjoy what you do but what advice

would you give to maybe someone who

who's like you know I just I just don't

like working for other people I would

prefer to work for myself I'd prefer to

do things my way

what's the biggest piece of advice you

would give them um first thing is take

more time to plan before you open up you

know plan and then plan and then over

plan again and then also make sure you

have more money than you think you

really need okay and then the last thing

is on the thing I was unprepared for as

a college in high school baseball coach

I thought about baseball all the time

but for the time I woke up the time went

to bed what I could do differently

better how I could you know whether it

was recruiting whatever as a business

owner I've taken it I also find that to

case what bit business I might not be

physically at work or working from home

but my mind is always on the finances

employees customers short long term

goals and so somebody that wants to open

a business they need to be prepared for

at times being very distant from other

parts our lives because your mind will

not get off their business yeah okay all

right well what's the best way for

someone to contact you they can contact

me at Randy at wheeze teas calm and that

is spelled w E

tea EES calm or they can call us at 517

927 well thanks so much for being on the

Ankeny podcast thank you support for

this episode comes from the audiobook

memorizing pharmacology a relaxed

approach with over 9,000 sales in the

United States United Kingdom and

Australia it's the go-to resource to

ease the pharmacology challenge

available on audible iTunes and

amazon.com in print ebook and audiobook

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I highlight a number of local Ankeny Businesses, People, and Events. Here are some links from this week's episode.

TrailPoint Aquatics and Wellness

http://mytrailpoint.com/Pages/programs-youth.aspx

http://mytrailpoint.com/Pages/employment.aspx

Ankeny Appliance Recycling Day

https://www.ankenyiowa.gov/our-city/city-calendar

Got ants?

https://www.bobcatpest.com/

Cafe Diem/Cafe X

http://cafe-diem.com/

TNT Landscaping

https://www.tntlandscaping.com/

Full Transcript:

Hey, welcome to the Ankeny podcast
I'm Tony Guerra Ankeny nonfiction author
college professor and triplet dad and I
am bringing you the people places and
events in Ankeny Iowa broadcasting from
the trail point aquatic and Wellness
Center
on DMACC's Ankeny campus right next to
Cafe X I'm especially interested in
hearing entrepreneurial stories so if
you are an author a solopreneur a
manager and are passionate about your
book or business I'd love to put your
story on a podcast episode there's never
a charge to come on it's just my knee my
way of networking with other successful
Ankeny professionals so reach out to me
at TonyPharmD1
on Facebook Messenger or aaguerra@dmacc.edu

you can find
past podcast episodes and links at
Ankeny podcast.com and here's the show
alright so starting off so we're at
where am I Cafe X is part of Cafe Diem
so you know Cafe diem which is on Ankeny
Boulevard just across from the DMACC
Ankeny campus and then if you come to
trail Point Aquatic Center right across
from that Cafe X is open Monday through
Friday all summer long so let me talk a
little bit about trail point it really
the one thing trail point did that we
really needed an Ankeny would have
opened up more opportunities for
swimming or swimming lessons and my
daughter just had a great experience and
I just wanted to share that so I have
triplet daughters for those of you that
don't know me and while they all may be
turning 7 in July
they are completely different the
easiest way that I explained how
different they are is that I went to
daddy daughter's dance at hope up here
in Ankeny and the one daughter wanted to
draw the whole time the other daughter
wanted to talk to her friends the whole
time and then the other one wanted to
dance the whole time so they're
completely different and then with their
abilities one of the daughters really
just didn't want to swim and was just
kind of nervous so we got her private
lessons at trail point and this was the
very first time that she would blow
bubbles this is the very first time she
would put her head under the water so
it's just a fantastic place if you're
looking to get swimming lessons the
trail point swim Academy and again
having you know one daughter that can
you know do the backstroke all the way
across the the pool 25 yards and then
having another one that that won't put
her head underwater again sometimes
those individual lessons are important
and then there's other ways as well so
definitely want to refer them in terms
of summer programming I know that
they're having a basketball league
that's starting up and then there's a
number of employment opportunities
there's a position for lifeguards swim
instructors personal trainers aquatic
fitness instructors group fitness
instructors I think there's a birthday
special events attendant and then a
kid's own attendant so if you're looking
for something to do over the summer or
full time I would definitely go to my
trail point.com okay let's see so Cinco
DeMayo is coming up this is Friday May
4th so Cinco DeMayo and it's a really
weird weekend the Kentucky Derby are on
the same day so kind of an interesting
mix there and we'll be celebrating out
there or bond delay with our friends who
have a kentucky derby party every year
but what's happening in Ankeny is the
big and it's just from 8:00 to noon
tomorrow morning is the Ankeny recycling
or a plot appliance an electronic
recycling day so it's it's 8 a.m. to 12
noon at the Prairie Ridge Aquatic Center
so 1/2 to 0 Northwest Prairie Ridge
Drive if you want an address to put in
your GPS
you have to be an Ankeny resident and
there's only a fee if you have like
monitors or televisions based on some
kind of size or something like that you
can read all the items that are accepted
but I mean it's the big things like the
air conditioners dishwashers fax
machines grocery carts freezers do
people have VCRs anymore I don't know if
you have one they'll take it
let acid batteries only dryers furnaces
printers riding lawnmowers and that's
what I need to get rid of is a push
mower we now have three wheels on one of
our push mowers and need to get a new
one
stoves washers the whole list you can
find at Ankeny Iowa gov and that's
tomorrow 8 a.m. to 12 and then there's
the other spring clean up and tree and
branch recycling which is two weeks away
on the 19th and 20th those hours are
much much longer but again the appliance
day is tomorrow on Saturday yoga in the
park starts again so first yoga in the
park starts from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and
that's going to be at the Ankeny beg van
shell in Wagner Park every Saturday May
5th through September 29th from 8 to 9
a.m. everybody's welcome and then
there's an instructor schedule if you
have a personal preference
they're the Ankeny dog let me see if I
get this right because it's a literate
'iv Ankeny dog park pooch potty so PA
wty corner of Southwest Ankeny Road and
Southwest Goodwin's Street so as from
1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Cinco DeMayo as
well and there's some specifics about
the dog park so you do want to go check
out the website first in terms of who
can be in the the fenced area and things
like that
ok each week or when I get a chance I
want to also interview that's kind of
the foundation of the pharmacy leaders
podcast which is my other podcast is
interviewing local businesses or
businesses that serve Ankeny and today I
just wanted to talk about Bobcat wild
and pest while
and past Heeia Jean Spaulding came out
he's helped us before and we had ants
and I don't know if any of you guys are
running into ants but it's just
disgusting and you're like why are these
guys coming in and the way that they
came in was through the pipe under the
sink and so they came into the sink but
then my wife is not happy about this
they were in the master bath in the
master bath sink like what that is so
weird why are they in these two places
and nowhere else in the house so I had
him he came over this morning and he
really helped us out and what I love is
when a business owner kind of explains
things as well as you know does what
they need to do to help us out so I just
wanted to talk to you about some of the
you know kind of the the backstory to
what was going on with it so first of
all how did he get involved in the
business he was in the Army and then he
had an archery business was doing just
fine but then after 9/11 his clients
went overseas so he was able to sell
that business and then had a friend who
said well I'm really need some help I'm
got this business where you know I'm
catching squirrels and so forth that are
getting into houses and he started that
up but he just had such an
entrepreneurial Drive and just
recognized also by the owner of that
business like man you got to just start
your own business out so you know after
that I asked you know about the ants
I've got three girls that are you know
gonna be turning seven in July so I
wanna know is it's safe for my kids and
so there's only three ml's of product
that goes into the water into the toxin
and it affects enzymes that the insect
has that humans don't and as a
pharmacist that made a lot of sense to
me because I understand that penicillin
for example affects cell walls and
bacteria have cell walls and humans
don't so aside from the rash and things
like that that penicillin causes it
makes a lot of sense to me you know and
that was you know nice that I could
could basically understand how the thing
works but why are they coming in and
what they were doing was following the
moisture looking for protein so it kind
of makes sense that they would come in
the sink and
the walls but then to understand that
well hair has protein - so they're kind
of following that as well and so he put
the spray in and took care of the sinks
and then sprayed outside as well so it
was as far as you know how does it you
know get the rest of the ants though so
you know we got the ants that we you
know know we're gonna be there but the
ants come and they they come after the
oleic acid and so they're trying to
carry their ants other ants away but
then in trying to do that then they're
also affected by the toxin so just he's
not although he's out in red field he
really works the Des Moines metro and
there's certain days it'll come out to
Ankeny but I definitely refer Jean
Spaulding with Bobcat wildlife and pest
I think it's 505 a 2 2 4 3 4 8 Bobcat
pest calm and he didn't pay me or
anything for this you know no ty just
just a you know really happy client
testimonial he doesn't know that I have
you know a social network and all of
that stuff so I really appreciate what
you did this morning and there's nothing
better than when you have like a
two-hour window like 10 to 12 and then
he shows up at 10:15 it's just such a
such a great victory for the day but
anyway I wanted to share that story and
those are the kinds of stories that I
want to share with other Ankeny
residents I think you know so many you
know great things that businesses and
Ankeny do for us go unsung and I wanted
to make sure to thank gene in his
business but also other businesses so
that also reminds me thanks again to TNT
landscaping who are on I want to say
it's magazine it's that curved road that
goes past the the police station thanks
again for for having us that free lunch
last Saturday was a Saturday or Sunday
last weekend I got to bring the kids out
and saw my father-in-law and
mother-in-law there as well but that was
really kind of nice and we used them too
we had a bunch of rocks that just always
kept you know sprouting weeds or
whatever so they just kind of just we
got rid of everything
just put sod over it and they did a
great job and that was really appreciate
TNT landscaping as well okay so that's
it for this weekend but anyway if you
want to be on the Ankeny podcast you
have a business or you manage a business
in town or you serve the Ankeny
population in town or you were an author
local author in Iowa we'll be happy to
talk to you just get in touch with me on
Facebook at Toni farm d1 or by email a a
gue AR RA @ DM acc edu I can come to you
that's usually cooler if I get to see
the business kind of gives a setting to
the to the podcast episode or we can
just meet over at rail point where you
know right right on 2006 south d-mac
boulevard it's right by where I work so
I can just take a you know a lunch hour
and come on over so thanks again for
listening and we'll talk to you next
week should be coming out every Friday
so Thursday or Friday always before the
weekend I'll make sure to have an
episode all year long support for this
episode comes from the audio book
Memorizing Pharmacology: A Relaxed Approach

with over 9,000 sales in the
United States United Kingdom and
Australia it's the go-to resource to
ease the Pharmacology challenge
available on audible iTunes and
amazon.com in print ebook and audiobook

View Details

In this episode, I introduce the Ankeny Podcast and what I hope to do with the episode. I highlight a number of local Ankeny Businesses, People, and Events. Here are some links from this week's episode

https://ankeny18th.extremebodyshaping.com/

http://cafe-diem.com/

https://www.firefliesaglow.com/

https://www.iowachiroclinic.com/

https://www.weestees.com/

http://www.firetrucker.com/

Full Transcript:

Hi, welcome to the Ankeny Podcast I'm
Tony Guerra and Ankeny nonfiction author
professor and triplet dad I'm bringing
you the people places and events in
Ankeny Iowa and you can find past
episodes and links at Ankeny podcast.com
welcome to the show
Who am I I'm Tony I came here from
Washington DC in Baltimore I met my wife
who's from Ankeny and we lived in Iowa
City for a year but I've lived in Ankeny
for almost 10 years now
and my daughters are about to turn seven
so they're at that age that they can
self entertain for a bit give me some
time to do the podcast and and this
summer I'm gonna be launching the Ankeny
podcast which highlights the businesses
people in places in Ankeny Iowa I've
been podcasting for two years but I've
started my own podcast last December
that podcast the pharmacy leaders
podcast it's about 15 to 25 thousand
downloads a month and it's super niche
it's just really for pharmacists and
people interested in pharmacy but I
found that I wasn't really talking to
the people that were in my own town and
that was a little bit disconcerting to
me so I thought boy that'd be really
cool to just start another podcast and
but I know how to do it so I'm gonna
start talking to the people in my
neighborhood that really helped me out
so I'll probably broadcast from cafe X
that's right next to the trail point
aquatic and Wellness Center it's about
50 yards from my office where I teach um
I teach chemistry and pharmacology down
d-mac in Ankeny and I also teach a
chemistry and Newton in the fall in the
spring but it was barrels last November
where I kind of signed up again and and
just kinda got back into it and the
Farrell's though people that we know but
we go back we're like this is where you
meet your neighbors you're like oh my
gosh where do you live you live right
down the street and you don't realize
that your neighbors because you know
we're so busy and so much often we come
home and we just go right in our garage
so it just kind of dawned on me that
maybe I think they'll start talking to
other people and ice talked to Steph
Wilson who's the owner of the Farrell's
ankeny north and Farrell's Ankeny South
and if you don't know Farrell's if
you've ever seen people running down
18th Street between the come-and-go and
northeast Elementary those are the
members doing their 10 weeks and the
first day or just before the first day
then at five weeks into ten weeks you do
a mile run and you'd be amazed the
improvement is exponential but I'll be
talking to Stephanie Wilson in a future
episode who owns that and then dr. Aaron
dr. Sean and dr. Vicky at the Iowa
chiropractic clinic on 1st Street you
know I want to thank them they keep me
running I just I ran the Nashville half
a month ago and then the Drake half last
week but just kind of keeping me from
getting too far off so that I can keep
running anyone who's a runner knows that
it's not if you're gonna get injured you
do but certainly minimize it by going to
those guys and then I met someone from
ways teas who I was like oh my gosh so
we need a Mart market to market shirts
for our run coming up here in a couple
weeks actually so eight of us from d-mac
professors and people are working at
rail point come together to run 75 miles
from way I can't remember the starting
point that's bad I've been there two
times but we come down to downtown Des
Moines
but I really appreciate we's tees for
helping us out there and
it was really kind of serendipitous I I
talked to Stephanie Wilson about coming
on the show from Farrell's and then
she's like oh you should come to this
business group just talk to them for a
little bit about podcasting and then I
was like oh my gosh well we need
t-shirts and we just need them and you
know I think it was like two or three
weeks and we need custom t-shirts for
our team so it's just kind of cool that
that connection happened but if you know
somebody that details cars that's where
I need some help both of our cars well
I'll just leave it at we have three six
year olds our cars could use some work
but the best way to actually get in
touch with me is on facebook at tony
farm d1t oh and yph ARMD one or you can
email me at a a gue RRA at DMACC DM acc
edu I'll get an Ankeny podcast email
address soon enough but those are good
places to get in touch with me if you
know somebody that is an entrepreneur
that would like to come on the show I'd
love to talk to them there's no cost to
come on the show my revenue comes from
the books I'm an author and I have seven
books on Amazon so I usually have a
little commercial about my pharmacology
books or chemistry books whatever it is
and that's how I support the show so I
I'll just bring a microphone and laptop
down I mean I'm in Northeast Ankeny so
it's never more than a 10-minute drive
to wherever you're at in terms of events
this was what really prompted me to
start the show because we went to the
Ankeny 's authors fair and the only
reason I seen that it was gonna happen
was because I happened to go to
Kuykendall and return a book and then I
saw oh wow that's on Saturday it's two
days away at the Pinnacle Club at Otter
Creek and I my wife I think had to work
that Saturday so I took my daughters
down there and it was really cool
because you'll hear our three six year
olds coming in and there and I wasn't
sure you know what authors were gonna
have
books we had but there were a number of
kids that were I wanna say 12 and 14 two
of them and my daughter's engaged with
them bought books from them and they
were just kind of really inspired to see
that these authors were so young
so Zoe Olsen I think she's 12 year old
and she wrote Harry and Larry tale of
two Canaries and puppy days and then
Elijah Olsen the stick book family the
stick family book he's 14 and we have
those books in our house so but it's
just cool that they're on Amazon too and
and that you can buy the books and the
thing about the podcast is that my
pharmacy leaders podcast actually goes
to a hundred countries or a hundred
countries are listening to it so it's I
think it's called glocal where you act
globally but work locally so I've talked
to a very successful business owner and
I said wow you know but it must be
really tough to get your items to these
other countries and things like that and
he's like no the the u.s. absolutely
wants you sending things out it's
getting things in that's tough so in
terms of exporting you know maybe you
think your market is here but you know
for those for that group of young
authors your reach could be global
I mean it's there's kids everywhere in
the world and the same thing with a
number of the businesses in Ankeny while
you know you serve us as that are in
Ankeny that really the the opportunities
are way out there I'm one of the
best-selling books in the UK and also in
Australia especially Australia because
they're an island and they don't really
get it's really expensive to get product
there so a lot of times this print on
demand that we have now makes it a lot
easier to get items to them so again
opportunities I think around the world
in terms of business so just really
really cool the the podcast is just a
really really cool medium to kind of
have it's kind of a cross between radio
and
talk show and then in terms of events I
got to go to Drake Relays last night saw
Ankeny Centennial Ankeny high compete in
the four by one I didn't get to see too
much else after that but again you know
I'm so busy with the kids
I kind of want to do this show just so I
know when things are happening so you
know we'll talk about Summerfest
certainly when that's coming up in July
I know fire trucker has a bunch of rides
a lot of what I'll talk about probably
is gonna have to do with riding and
running as well and then of course the
Ankeny optimist club has their Ankeny 5k
that Sunday July 15th Prairie Ridge
Aquatic Center so I want to make sure
that I don't miss those events but also
that I'm again connecting with people
that are going to be at those events so
this is just a little bit of an
introduction what I'm hoping to do with
the Ankeny podcast again please get in
touch with me if you want to be on the
show or if you have any comments or
events that are coming up please let me
know and I'll put it on there we're
gonna start with at least a weekly
podcast
I usually probably gonna come out on
Friday or the weekend just because
that's usually when we kind of figuring
out what we want to do and then we'll
kind of go from there support for this
episode comes from the audio book
memorizing pharmacology a relaxed
approach with over 9,000 sales in the
United States United Kingdom and
Australia it's the go-to resource to
ease the Pharmacology challenge
available on audible iTunes and
amazon.com in print ebook and audiobook