Ankeny Podcast

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/

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. 

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 

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/  

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  

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  

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  

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. 

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  

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  

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