Ep. 12 : Mastering Display Quality Standards with Production Expert Quentin Vowells

Episode 12:  Mastering Display Quality Standards with Production Expert Quentin Vowells

Summary

In this episode, hosts Christine Wright and Trevor Lewis discuss RFPs (requests for proposals) and the increasing need for them in the retail industry. They also talk about the trend of product glorifiers, which are displays that highlight specific products. Their guest, Quentin Vowells, shares insights into the display production process and the importance of quality control. He also discusses the use of technology, such as AI, in manufacturing. The hosts end the episode with their personal reflections and reminders.

Takeaways

• RFPs are becoming more common in the retail industry due to budget constraints and a lack of expertise on the buyer side.
• Product glorifiers, such as acrylic cases, are a popular trend in retail displays, especially for high-end products.
• Quentin Vowells oversees various aspects of display production, including concepting, engineering design, manufacturing, and packaging.
• Quality control is a crucial part of the display production process, and it involves thorough checks and sign-offs at each stage.
• Technology, such as AI, can be used to improve manufacturing processes and solve problems.
• Setting a good example is important in both personal and professional settings, as it can influence others' behavior and actions.
• Taking time off and prioritizing self-care is essential for personal well-being and productivity in the workplace.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Overview
01:00 The Rise of RFPs in the Retail Industry
10:18 Insights into Display Production and Quality Control
16:00 The Role of Technology, including AI, in Manufacturing
32:23 The Importance of Taking Time Off and Self-Care
35:27 Conclusion

Transcript

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (00:02.702)
Welcome to Blue Light Special, the podcast for CPG brand marketers who want to lighten up their hustle in retail and real life. I'm Christine Wright. And I'm Trevor Lewis. We're here to decode the mysteries of retail and give you some insider hacks to make your brand talk the shelf. Let's get into this week's episode.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (00:28.846)
Welcome and let's get display quality standards with our guests, Quentin Vowells. He's InStore Design Display's plant operations manager and all around production guru. He's a good guy. He oversees everything from prototyping and manufacturing, kitting and fulfillment. And if you've ever wondered what it takes to get a retail display delivered on time and on budget, then you won't want to miss out what Quentin has to say later on in the podcast. So first let's get started with what's happening in our worlds. Trevor, what you got?

RFPs, RFPs, RFPs. It's not that they ever went away. But they're definitely coming and they're coming at a pretty hot rate. And I don't think that there's going to be any slowing down. You've talked several episodes about companies scrutinizing budget and I've talked about companies downsizing and kind of people are wearing more hats and having to do more things. And I think RFPs come into play with both of those. They definitely do. There's a, you know, another challenge that drives a need for an RFP as well. And it's the lack of expertise on the buyer side. And so what that forces them to do is to create some level of standard, Hey, can you submit your request for information? And they can use submitted RFP with the objective of educating the buyers on what some of those suppliers capabilities are and then how do they rank amongst each other when it comes to pricing. And because there's such a wide array of needs amongst retail project management teams, you may have to create more than one RFP, right? Or what we're seeing now is they're looking to create an RFP because they have a desire of finding a single source. 

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (02:27.534)
And so I think that's the biggest trend that we've seen recently is, hey, we don't really have time for managing six, seven different vendors. We actually don't even know what those six and seven vendors do or their course training, what are their capabilities? How do they rank amongst themselves in the marketplace? And I'm brand new to this position that I assumed last week. So I really have no idea what's happening. Educate me. Educate me. And so the RFP process is a way of educating the team and also keeps, you know, other departments on the buyer side aware of what the capabilities are of the supplier, whether it's quality control teams, whether it's, you know, sales teams, whether procurement teams, whether it's, you know, the brand team, they all have a vested interest in, in understanding what the, that given suppliers capabilities are. and I think that, you know, because of some of the other reasons we've already outlined, you know, price.

You know change just then you know headcount and it rolls We will continue to see a large uptick in our piece Yeah, and it's not just the usual. Hey, what are your capabilities? And what's the best pricing you can give and in our world when you're talking large CPG brands a lot of questions are asking or things that Quentin's gonna cover later in the episode What are your quality control standards, you know, what are your certifications because?

Sometimes you can or can't handle that brand's product depending on the certifications you have. So it delves deeper into things more than just capabilities and price. yeah, absolutely. And that's why there's often so many different departments that are representing the questions that they're trying to find answers to, which is, do you offer lot tracking? Or how do you...

Deal with an issue or yeah, what is QC but even higher than that? What are certification? Do you have EPA or you have DA certified? Those are some of the ones that we frequently yes But I think across the board in every industry You're gonna you're gonna see more and more RFPs Again, if you're on our side, there's always an opportunity. We always say like hey, let us we should just create a template for the RFP and give that to everyone because I think it would streamline so much of it.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (04:41.742)
 It's a lot of work. Because a lot of them put so much work into developing what they think that they want answers to. The reality is they miss so much. because you know, there's, it's just, it's hard. And so it's how do you ask the right questions? And again, it always comes back to what we say, which is no one goes to school for this. So a lot of the questions are being driven based on their own expertise or issues that they've had before.

And so they just put those in there. But RFPs, we're gonna keep on having them. Yep, they definitely are. It's time for the brand students working side by side with retailers and brands on the daily. We are in the know when it comes to trends and what is the trend you're getting out of? A trend that I have been seeing with many, many projects lately are what I call project glorifiers or product glorifiers.

And what that is, just to give an example, it's an acrylic case, for lack of a better term, whether it's open or enclosed for security, that highlights a specific product. I'm doing one right now for a shoe. It's gonna highlight the specific shoe of the month for that retailer, for that brand. The intricacies of that are, hey, it needs to either hang on a slat wall or a peg wall or sit on the counter.

And for this one, they want to incorporate it into wherever apparel for that same brand is being displayed to tell a brand story for shoe and apparel. But specifically glorifying that product or that shoe. And the other ones I'm seeing a lot are for higher end products, higher price points that are being put out in mass retailers on pallet programs where that product might not be live on the palette. You have to take like a card to the off the palette display to a counter to actually get it and purchase it. But they want shoppers to be able to look at it and experience it. So it needs to be under a, an acrylic case that is locked and secured to the palette. So again, it's a glorifier of whatever that product is on that palette display. 

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (07:01.07)
Yep. I definitely have seen that as a trend sometimes because you know, space is limited and so how you don't have a, you know, space for a floor, a floor displays per se. and so how can you kind of create this aha moment in the, you know, the, the shoes of the consumer introducing to that, to that product. we see a lot of it in the cannabis space specifically, you know, that because the, you know, the way that cannabis regulations are is all of the actual product is, is typically kept behind in a secure way.

so as you are a, you know, a shopper in that you can go in there and they have a bunch of, you know, what I call jewelry cases, very similar to if you're going to a jewelry store. And so there's all of these different brands that are trying to capture the shoppers tension. but they're not shoppable displays. They're all really product glorifiers, some level of, you know, features and benefits of the product. So sometimes there's a little fact tag that's, that's near them as well.

but it's definitely, you know, something that we keep seeing in the cannabis space. And a lot of that sector is because of how that environment is, you know, has to be established to grant. so maybe one of our lucky, Jackie can throw some visuals up on the, we have a lot of examples now. I'm going to assume examples for those of you that are maybe watching on YouTube. those of you listening to the podcast, maybe you need to go watch what they talk about.

Anything else that you're seeing on the Hyramalchuria? The product glorifiers, that's probably my main one because I've had such a plethora of asks for those lately. I mean, like you said, we've always done them and we have experience with, it's got to be on slot wall or it's got to be tagged or it's got to be on a counter. So we knew what we were doing. We had projects to reference, but I just see a big surge of it now. And I think mainly like you alluded to with cannabis, it's more of a security thing for higher end.

electronics, you know, you beat headphones or something like that, that you're not going to have out there live for consumers to just grab and take to the counter for security and theft purposes. But they need to be able to at least see it, look at it and visually analyze it to make that purchase. Yeah, it's slightly different than the, you know, some of the other interactive experiences that we see is like a lift alarm. It's not necessarily that full consumer experience that you're giving, you know, a potential, you know, shopper.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (09:20.973)
but you're definitely putting it out there. Like here's the product so you can, you know, see it really well. You might not necessarily be able to touch it or pick it up. but I think you're still trying to figure out how do we get this introduced to. How can the consumer experience it, in a way that will help drive the towards the purchase on that. Yep. All right. Today we'd like to welcome Quentin Vowells.

As a Plant Operations Manager of InStore Design Display to the podcast, Quentin, my man, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Welcome, Q. We're excited to have you on here. And we're going to just kind of jump right in here. The first question that we're going to kind of just leap with is, tell us about all the areas of display production that you oversee. Yeah, so as Plant Operations Manager, it's really my job to make sure that

Your cart goes through the concepting stage, goes through engineering design, goes through fulfillment, manufacturing, and then on out into packaging. So a lot of that, as we kind of walk through the process here, you have the liaison with design department. So we're going to take those ideas from sales, the customer's ideas, and we're going to boil those down.

into a workable solution. Something that can be manufactured for real. Yes, yeah. So my big thing is manufacturability, right? Yes. So we're going to make sure that it not only serves the function and looks pretty, but it can be produced on that mass scale. It's my responsibility is to make sure that...

you get the best sheet layouts that you can. We're making your product as cheap and efficiently as we can to give you guys the best cost that we can. So after it goes through the engineering, the design phase, then we're going into the manufacturing where we touch on those efficiencies and stuff like that. Making sure that we have the right processes in place to whether it be for

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (11:42.99)
an acrylic design or something like that where you CNC bend glue or on the corgi side of things, you know, where we're going through and assembling, taping those units together, you know, sometimes we're hot gluing stuff like that. And then finally, the last stage is how are we going to get that to you? Right. So we're designing those packouts, we're doing the ship tests and we are shipping those in the most.

Convenient way to make sure that they ride safe to you safe to the customer. Well, well Awesome. Yeah, so I mean and again walking on our the production floor out there and you'll see So many different project types you see, you know countertop the floor displays to IRC and print solutions How in the heck do you manage across all of these different project types? How do you manage quality control? Yeah, so a lot of it is

we go through and we set up those initial quality procedures in the beginning, right? So we go through and we have a full quality management system that walks us through all of the documentation that's needed, all of the QC sign -offs for each individual job that we're doing. And then if you're doing a part or a job for 20 units, that's a whole lot different than doing something for 2 ,000 units, right?

So as that 2000 piece job is coming off of the CNC, you have the checks and the sign -offs to make sure that the parts are being cut to the right size. As they move through bending and gluing operations, all of those individual steps have their own QC checklists and their own QC logs where we're calling out critical dimensions and stuff like that that's required to make all of those pieces fit together correctly.

whenever our raw materials are coming in. So you get into the corrugate world. When we're going through and we're checking those die lines and stuff versus what's actually coming in, going through and measuring, making sure that all of the slices and the folds are in the right spot so that we can start putting it together. And then as we're packing those units out, we're going through and we have a team that's dedicated. And that's their whole job is that.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (14:07.694)
final look at your product, make sure that it looks nice. and it's been packed correctly. It has all of the right products in it. that, that just that final QC check before we seal the box and it gets palletized or, you know, FedEx UPS labels thrown onto it and it can go on out the door. Amazing. certainly. And then I know that, you know, it.

Every single project we do by and large is custom. So kind of, as you mentioned, you got to kind of custom develop QC practices. And I've always enjoyed walking out there and seeing all the level of detail that goes into it. The most simplest display, the most complex all has a very extensive detail QC process. Anything you've observed? I just like seeing, especially on the larger projects, you don't really think about it, but they're setting up the lines.

specifically for that project. Once the project's done, the lines get torn down. The next project comes, this completely new custom line, depending on what you're manufacturing, what you're doing in fulfillment, and how it gets out the door. And mainly because, and this is something a lot of customers don't realize, we don't want to handle something twice. So, Quinton's out there pre -planning and making sure everything is flowing efficiently one step after the next.

so we're not having to crack boxes open and drop in a sign or re -handle something and put tape on. It's going down the line and doing that efficiently through the entire process. That's what impresses me. Yeah. Now it's almost like a work of art. Yes. Yes, it's definitely mastery. Quinn, tell us when has a QC process worked well? And it's cost - Yeah, give us an example. Is there an example that comes top of the line for you?

So obviously there's kind of two different paths that we go down. We have the acrylic side of things and the plastics that we work and then we have the corrugated side of things. So whenever that really works for us at those plastic levels is whenever those pieces are being glued, right? So we come through, we make those check fixtures and stuff like that. So we just did some.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (16:28.718)
display cases, some jewelry cases that went out about a week ago. And those jewelry cases have 10 or 12 different check fixtures that go with it just because it's so tedious and it's so easy to get some of those parts upside down. And you would never notice that until the very last step, you know, where you're maybe riveting a door on or installing a lock and then, my gosh, this lever doesn't match.

the slot that it's supposed to fit in. So there's tons of checks and stuff like that that, I mean, they save your butt out here on a daily basis. And then kind of in the Corregate world, in the Corregate side of things, you have those die lines and stuff, right? Which we're kind of using as our gospel to go to, you know, if it's not labeled on our die line or something like that and it comes in different.

to us, it's wrong until somebody gives us that okay that, no, this changed per the customer or something like that. And, you know, we see that change order request and it's been signed off on and stuff like that. you know, that stops us dead in the process. So until all of those lights are green, you know, your, your process is really tight in how to get things out the door.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (17:53.998)
Quentin, give us an example of a more of a complex project. I know we worked on one in the Feminine Care for launch inside Walmart recently. I think maybe that one would be a good one just to kind of break down and highlight the different products that were used. We were launching, you know, Encap specifically on this scenario. So would you be able just to kind of share with our audience a little bit more about that project?

Yeah, certainly. So that project came to us. The customer was needing basically three levels of in -caps produced. We needed that high quality one that was going into very few select stores. You had the design that was made for the masses. And then you had alternative budget option for that. And then as well as an in -lock that they wanted as well that was going into the mass stores.

So what we did on that was after talking with the customer and stuff like that, and you get those budgets and stuff like that kind of, you know, narrowed down, you go through and some of these big permanent in caps, you know, we tend to use materials like PVC or, foam core structures, stuff like that. So what we ended up going with on that one was a big, huge display. It was one massive.

cart. It was made out of one inch thick foam core that had styrene sheeting around it and it had the mannequins on the dividers made out of PVC stuff like that. Something that was very robust and people could shop it a lot and you know you're not going to damage it, you're not going to hurt it in any way. And then you get into that mid -tier option which was basically all corrugated. And it closely resembles

that one that had the mixed materials on it, stuff like that, but it was a lot more streamlined version. I believe that we made a thousand of them or something like that. And it was something that was designed to be mass produced. So your, your select store option, your high end urgent, went through a completely different process and had a lot higher QC restrictions to it.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (20:17.582)
than what that one that went through the masses did. And then once we got to that low budget option, it was a very simple design. There wasn't a whole bunch of parts to it. It was, for the most part, all the same materials. And then the inline version, which was basically an all acrylic version, had product pushers on it.

In the beginning, it was originally supposed to be a huge lit display. So we're going to install lights in it, interchangeable graphics. So stuff like that, as that comes through and we're going through the design process, the PMs and stuff like that, we're sitting down and we're going through and highlighting all of those things with not only the customer, right? It's important that they understand what they're buying.

But then on the flip side of that, it's also important that our engineering department and our design department knows what the customer wants. And they're including all the features that they want for this high -end display that's going into a lot of stores. And because it was a product launch, a new product launch for Walmart, it had to be in stores by a specific date, which meant all of the manufacturing that you just spoke about.

had to happen by a specific date. There was no missing it. So you staffed way up to do that, didn't you? Yeah, I think for that job, we had 50, 60 people in here to help out with that. You know, I like to say there's nothing on our floor that's ever the same, you know, whether it be a little fact tag or just a little header graphic that's going into a retailer and a pinch fold shipper or something like that. There's nothing on our floor that's the same. So our

Our production process is made to be modular. You walk out here into our shop, everything's on wheels. Everything can be torn down and set up fast. We can go from that 10 person production line, and we can scale it up to have five production lines going with 10 on each line if we need to. So it's a growing process that you work through, through something like that.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (22:32.686)
Awesome. Well, and that was going to be my, you know, part of my next question was just kind of understanding the facility needs. I know you just kind of, you know, jumped into a little bit with just the flex space that we have and how that gets used. Is there any other, you know, whether it's aha moments or thoughts when you think about just facility and the different requirements are needed just to be able to facilitate, everything that you're asked to do? Yeah. So a lot of what we do, you know,
whether you have live products going into something or it's proxy units, stuff like that, we are expected to have a level of consistency as far as atmosphere goes in our warehouse, right? If it's too dry or something like that, whenever you're folding the core gate, you start to crack it out. So, you know, you don't want any big leaky roofs or anything like that. Your well -lit areas.

Our facility here, we have the door locks and everything. So everybody that comes in, you know, has key card badges and stuff like that. So we maintain a certain level of security. But whenever you get into some of those other product lines and stuff, you know, these are expensive, sometimes high, highly complicated electrical units or something like that.

And so we go through and we put those into secure storage where, you know, limited access, control logs in and out, stuff like that. And then on the flip side of that, you have the company side of things, the regulations that have to be in place, whether that be your EPA, your FDA.

Some places are ISO certified. So that's a big part in that too, is what are you certified to work on? And you know, whenever you get those certifications, that's saying that, you know, we're the experts in this area. Yeah, I know when we're always talking with new clients, you know, because they're, as we're kind of understanding what their potential needs are.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (24:53.358)
There's often just subset of questions that we ask. And one of the questions we always get asked is about lot tracking. And I know that's something that you're continuously looking at and prioritizing for clients as well. So it's just, it's amazing how many different, you know, things has to be going right just to be able to manage clients from the QC or just how your facility is, you know, set up and, you know, the even surveillance, right? I mean, I don't even know how many cameras that we have going on 24 hours a day. We've gone back and looked at camera footage. We have several times for certain things. Climate control, but even the dock doors, the amount of dock doors that we have because of, you know, daily inbound and outbound shipments. I know that that's something that is, you know, critical, as well. So, one last question is what would you like a CPG brand manager to know about the display production process?

that they might not know. So I would say that it's a collaborative process, right? So whenever they come to us, we want them to give us the feedback on our designs. We want them to be involved with us so that we can elevate their display to the best that it can be, whether that be different materials, sometimes mixed material displays. And then.

As we build through that process, you know, it's all about, okay, here's this ideal design that you now have. Okay, we can get this in your budget if we're now manufacturing it this certain way. And this certain manufacturing process, you know, might leave rounded corners in this, or it might need to be flamed acrylic in this section. So working through that, you know, it's all about communication.

You know, I like to say that we can never be given too much information. I would rather have the book that I would have to flip through and stuff, you know, whether that be, your pack out and logistics side of things where if we're going into a specific retailer that, you know, that customer uses all the time or something and they're used to doing it, you know, send, send us the information and you know, we'll, we'll handle that for you. You know, there, there's no reason why we can't do that.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (27:17.87)
whatever standards there are, stuff like that. The more interesting the better. And that's the same reason why we ask so many questions, is because we need that information to do the best that we can do. Awesome. Well, man, again, I appreciate you coming on, sharing a little bit of your expertise as it relates to just managing the production floor and all the ins and outs related to that.

but you're not off the hot seat yet. We're gonna, I'm going to transition it over here to Christine. she's going to take you through our next segments. and, yeah, it's going to get a little interesting. Yeah. So let's get into the lightning round to participate in. So are you ready? Quentin, let's do it. What is one new brand you recently purchased and why? So.

Whenever I think about buying stuff, I'm a big tool guy. I have a lot of side hobbies that I'm working on. And so one big place, you know, I love to shop is like that Everett freight. And you've said you're afraid for stuff before. Absolutely. You know, as long as you're taking care of your tools, I can never go bad on. But, you know, I'm a big Milwaukee guy and stuff like that. But every now and then, you know, you just need that.

that's not gonna break the budget and stuff like that. So here recently I've been going through and buying some of like the Bauer stuff from Harbor Freight and just a little bit more ideal line of power tool on stuff like that. Yeah, yep. Okay, well what's one thing you've bought on TikTok or Instagram or any social media, because mine was on Facebook. I don't do TikTok or Instagram. Yep.

You know, I, I'm not a huge person. I don't go out and buy a whole bunch of random stuff, you know, the trendy stuff like that. so whenever I think about stuff that has influenced me on tick tock, Instagram, stuff like that, I'm a big suit guy. And, you know, so like you see those food trends and stuff like that that are going around on tick tock. And so, just, just last night I ended up trying that new, Panda express spicy chicken.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (29:35.694)
And how was it? It was delicious. Okay, what is one piece of technology you can't live without? At this day and age, I would have to say my phone. You know, it's always in your pocket. For us here in the shop, we've now started integrating monday .com. And that's something that...

Yeah, we're uploading shop drawings into and stuff like that. So whenever we have those QC issues out on the floor, you can pull up right there, the engineering drawing on your phone. Hey, this is wrong. This is right. And that that's been huge for us. Okay. What's the worst career advice you've ever been given? That's a hard one. I've been getting a lot of bad advice. I.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (30:31.374)
I don't know if it's necessarily bad advice or bad morale, however you want to look at it. But whenever I walk around and you hear somebody start telling you, well, that's not your job. Don't worry about it. That that's a big pet peeve of mine, right? No, we're all here to better ourselves and stuff like that. So in my opinion, if you're not learning something new every day, it's not worth going to. Yes, I agree.

I agree. Totally agree. I think there's one time when it's acceptable to start flipping over tables and everything. That's what someone says. That's not my job. Yeah, it's not my job description. Where do you go to consume information to do your job better? So a lot of what I know, I have a degree in manufacturing engineering and that's all great and stuff, but a lot of everything else that I do, right? I didn't go to school to be a

operations manager or anything. And go to school for this. Yep. And, and it's one of those things, you know, on a daily basis, it's okay, well, how do I do this in Excel? Or how do I do this? You are an Excel wizard for the manufacturing guy. You are an Excel wizard. Yeah. I love looking at those spreadsheets. but YouTube is my go -to. If I don't know how to do something, YouTube is the place that I go to learn.

Trevor's kind of known for YouTube it. If we ask you a question, just YouTube it. Google it, YouTube it. It's there. I promise you can hear it out. OK, last question. What advice would you give your 25 -year -old self, although that wasn't very long ago? Yeah, I'll really have to think back here those couple of years. It's kind of one of those things, just trust the process. Right? That's a good one. It's.

You have a vision and you only know so much as you go into the day and stuff. So, you know, you're expected to learn as the day goes on. You're expected to be smarter tomorrow than you were today. And so that's the only real advice that I would give myself is just trust the process. Good advice. Awesome.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (32:47.95)
Well, again, this is great to have you on. I'm excited for our audience to be able to listen to some of the different areas that you cover, as well as kind of those next -gen production folks that are interested in that. I think it's always interesting for you to be able to share some of that for them, or that someone that's in high school or college and thinking about, what the heck do I want to do when I grow up? Mm -hmm.

I always think it's, I always just love watching what Quentin does back there and how he brings modern technology to, you know, a manufacturing process. Yeah. So one of my stories before we let him go was just how he was leveraging, you know, looking at how does AI and I think they were trying to figure out and Quentin, I'm going to let you kind of just jump in and tell a story a little bit.

But it was around you trying to figure out how to, if it was the depth of the bit on the CNC, I'm not sure, but you did some programming and you let was looking at can AI inform us on how to better code this. Give us a little high level version of what you did there because I thought like, my goodness, this is incredible. How you was leveraging modern tools like artificial intelligence to help solve a problem that I don't know that others would have went that. Yeah. So that specific.

time we had for whatever reason our CNC machine didn't like the code that the program was spitting out and you know G code for anybody that doesn't know is basically just lines and lines and lines it's just like regular computer program it's all numbers you know G20 T20 whatever and as you work through that

Unless you are fluid with that and working it every day, you don't know what all of those little moves are. And we had a bit that was coming out and doing some funky stuff and moving where we wasn't wanting it to go and stuff like that. And I ended up going into, I think I used chat GPT for that. Of course you did. And I told it in this line of code, somewhere in here, my bit.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (35:00.686)
is raising up into the air and I don't want it to and it was able to read that you go through it and tell me exactly where that was deleted out that line and went on about my day. Chat GPT for manufacturing on a CNC machine. It's fantastic. Love it. Well, we're going to let you off the hook. Thanks again, my man for coming on. Thanks Quentin. All right. Appreciate you guys for having me. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

All right. Well, for our last segments, we want to give you a little glimpse into our own minds. We all have those moments where we reflect, learn and remind ourselves of certain truths. For me, it's my memo to myself and for Christine, it's her I am for the day. It's a chance for us to be a bit vulnerable, share thoughts, and maybe some of it will resonate with you. And this time you - I'm going first. Christine, tell me about your I am for -

My I Am for the Day, and that comes from my group of accountability partners that I have. And every morning over coffee, we text each other and say, what are you today? And today, I am setting the example. That's what I am, either personally or professionally. But most of it stems from just interactions with my kids lately, their teens or adults. I don't have little ones anymore. But I've always, as a parent, been, I wish I could teach them this.

I wish they would learn that. And honestly, a parent telling a child something verbally, they do not listen. Someone else could tell them in its gospel, but if mom or dad tells them, they're not gonna listen. But they will pick it up by example. And if I remember that, like, I really wish my kid would learn better about spending money, set the example, make sure they see it. Or there's a lot going on with Braxton baseball lately, like a kid.

a kid last night where they were leaving practice and they were all hooting and hollering for this one kid and all of us moms were like, what is going on down there? Well, the kid got mad and he threw his helmet because he just got out of practice and all the other boys were, let's go, let's try to pump him up and everything. And so my example to him was, did you see how he handled that? It wasn't handled well. So let's remember that and the next time you want to launch the helmet when you get out.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (37:17.742)
Let's not do that. So setting the example for him or at work professionally when you want your coworkers or someone to maybe learn something or do something a different way, it's up to you to set that example first. Love it. Love it. And yeah, I mean, I know that you do a phenomenal job. I try. It's not always easy. No, no, it's not easy. I know that, you know, when I wake up in the morning, I most days I do not want to go to the gym.

But I know that that's part of that setting that example That you're talking. Yeah and spent for your kids. I do the same thing for exercise. I do not want now they hate conditioning. They hate it. I Need to watch I need to make sure that I'm leading by that's no great at one. I'm a mobile to myself You know today as I was driving on my way in is take the vacation That's another set the example moment

Take the, take the vacation. I was fortunate to have a couple of days, you know, last weekend, you know, anyone, whether you're leading teams or not, I think, you know, there's a lot of folks that just aren't taking enough time to, to recharge and for me to be my best self or both the, my team here as well as, you know, at home, you know, I need, I need a break. and so, I think it's just, it's so important, but you know,

In the most mixed of the leadership aspect, you just find yourself like I don't have, there's no way I can take it. I'm not important, I need to do this, I need to do that. Yeah, so. If you are the most important. Take the vacation, your team will figure out how to move. It will survive, it will go on. Every time, so yeah, to myself, is take the vacation. And I did, and I'm better for it. Yes, yes.

BlueLightSpecialPodcast (39:08.526)
All right. Well, that's it for this episode. We're grateful to have you along for the ride as we lighten up your hustle through retail and real life. Thanks for listening and keep your questions and comments coming. We love tuning into what you want to know about helping your brand stand out in store. Please like and share the podcast. We appreciate your help getting the word out about Blue Light Special. Finally, join us for next week's episode where we will dig into the inflation impact, the changing landscape of consumer spending.

This podcast is a production of In -Store Design Display, the go -to expert for guiding and elevating your in -store experience. Our wordsmith, Julie Edge, and mix master, Jackie Barra, make all of this possible. So a big thanks to them and the entire team at In -Store Design Display. Stay tuned for our next episode on YouTube or wherever you consume podcasts. We love to hear from our listeners, so please drop us a line and tell us what you want to hear about retail and real life.