Why Six Foot Five?

Taylor: “It took us forever to decide on the name of the company. I had a buddy that said ‘You should call it Six Foot Five Films, because it rolls off the tongue easily and it would be a cool logo.’ I didn’t really want to do it, and then I mentioned it to Jason and he liked it. At least he pretended to like it.”

Jason: “I didn’t really care what we called it. There are lots of successful companies who started off with what might have sounded like stupid names, like ‘Nike,’ but they have great products. I felt like no matter what our name was, what we do is going to make it great or not. I don’t feel like the name will make it great, but we will make it great. Hopefully that’s what we are going to do.”

Where do you draw inspiration?

Taylor: “I watch a lot of movies, but not a lot of TV. But I really draw a lot of inspiration from music, more so than movies. I can be inspired by the way a song makes me feel and then I can take that feeling and translate it into other things. For example, I am working on a video that’s happening in Atlanta in a couple of months. At the very beginning of the editing process, I sat down and said ‘What song do I want this video to be like?’. So I started listening to a lot of music. I really wanted to get a feeling… a song has a feeling, and I get a lot of inspiration from that. I also spend a lot of time absorbing other people’s work on the internet. I’ll watch videos and commercials from YouTube and Vimeo. If I have free time, I am doing that.”

Jason: “I am inspired when I see somebody that is passionate about what they do, has very good taste and immaculate attention to pushing something to its furthest limit. People that do things with excellence really inspire me. I’m so inspired when I am around people that do things excellently, those who are at the top of their game and do things the best of the best. That’s what I want to be. The dark side of that is that nothing is ever good enough.

“From a stills perspective, I subscribe to almost every magazine known to man. I don’t read half of the articles, but I just look and see who is doing what. When I find somebody in there who does something that makes me stop, I’ll go to their website and try to keep up with what they are doing. It’s not necessarily a celebrity or somebody that has a big name, but a lot of times it’s those people that end up getting my attention because they’re so good at what they do. People that are masters of their craft inspire me.”

Have you thought about getting into full-length feature films?

Taylor: “We’ve thought about it a lot. To be very general, what we want is to get to a place where people pay us to do what we want to do. That list is probably not as long as you would imagine, but on it would be feature-length films. We have personal projects that we already have in the works but none of them are feature-length just because we’re still a very young company (the company is just over a year and a half old). We need to take baby steps and not bite off more than we can chew. If somebody walked up to me with suitcases of $100 bills and the direction that we had to make a movie, I have no doubt that we could do it. So far, that hasn’t happened!”

What is your take on Commercial Kings? (Commercial Kings is a series done by “Rhett and Link” on IFC and it profiles their journey of making “Legendary Local Commercials.” The companies that they choose are often challenging from a marketing perspective: Taxidermy, Mobile Homes, Car Washes, etc.)

Taylor: “It’s a fantastic idea for a number of reasons. If you create something that gets passed around the Internet, it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. They have created a formula that is successful more often than it’s not for making a viral video, which is a feat in and of itself. Rhett and Link are actually helping these people. Some might think that they are making fun of the companies and people they are promoting, but those people know going in that the videos are going to be funny. It’s a great idea because it’s a new spin on how to promote a business.”

You guys are involved with Neverthirst, a ministry that brings clean and “living” water to the poor. How has that involvement impacted you?

Jason: “It gives me perspective on the things that really matter. It also really opens your eyes and helps you realize that this is the reality for much of the rest of the world. What we see in America is abnormal. We are among the wealthiest in the world. It also shows you just how easy it is to make a difference. I look for ways to get the most efficient return on my investment and when you put an American dollar in some of these third-world countries, that one dollar can make a significant impact on somebody’s life. A well in India costs about $2,500.00 but that impacts an entire village for 20 years. The village will now have clean water and the kids will stop getting diseases. They stop dying and people are healthy, can go to work and get educated. There’s a cycle of poverty and this can be one of the things that helps change that.”

Six Foot Five Productions
212 24th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205.835.6484

He graciously allowed me to ask him a few questions, so read below to learn more about him and about Iron Tribe Fitness.

For those that don’t know about Iron Tribe, what is the biggest distinction between you and your typical chain fitness facility?

“The biggest difference is the type of program we do, which is constantly varied functional movement done at high intensity. Some people know this is as CrossFit. Yet, there are a lot of facilities and gyms in town that offer CrossFit.  What really separates us is our facilities, the fact that we have two full time coaches per class and the unmatched community that is the Tribe.

“CrossFit is our program and our facility is specifically engineered for that type of workout. You can’t do the type of workouts we do in a typical fitness facility (there are too many machines in regular gyms). Our workouts are designed to only work with functional movements, so a lot of work with kettle bells, bar bells, rings, ropes, rowing machines… a lot of things you just won’t find in gyms anymore. You used to back in the 1920s and 1930s before we started getting all of the latest and greatest fitness machines (which are literally useless). In order to do these types of workouts you have to have a facility that is setup to do them.”

Are there any age, weight or fitness restrictions/limitations for people trying to get into this?

Forrest Walden, Owner
Iron Tribe Fitness
Photo by Caleb Chancey

“Not really. We have ages ranging from 12 to 71 years old (male and female). We have just started a new program for kids called Tribe Kids (ages 6-12). One of the biggest questions from our members is “How can I get my kids into this?” because they are enjoying it so much. The reason we can do that is because everything we do is scaled to capacity… meaning you’re going to do the same workout that I am going to do but I am going to scale it to your needs. As a beginner or if you have diminished capabilities, I am going to scale it to your needs and eventually get you up to do it as prescribed.

“For example, my wife’s mother had a heart attack last February. When she came in, she could do very, very little but she’s lost 45 pounds and it’s like every workout, she can do something new. She’s still not doing anything prescribed but she is getting closer.”

The economy has produced more frugality from consumers than previous years. Has this had an impact on Iron Tribe?

“We’ve only been opened 12 months, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but we went from zero to 225 athletes in 7 months, so I would say “no.” I think the reason for that is because there is so much value here. People are getting in the best shape of their life. Our testimonials and referrals are through the roof. I think it’s for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason that can’t be overlooked is that the program works. It absolutely works. I think where there’s value, people will continue to pay, regardless of the economy.”

How have you leveraged the web, social media and technology to grow your business?

“Oh, it’s been huge from day one. One of the biggest things that affected me is what Seth Godin had to say in his book Tribes. He said, ‘For a tribe to be truly effective, you need four things: 1) you need a way for the leader to communicate with the members; 2) you need a way for the members to communicate with the leader; 3) you need a way for the members to communicate with the other members; 4) you need a way for the members to communicate with the outside world.’ I had that in mind when building the website. They can communicate with me and I with them. They can communicate with each other, whether it’s giving each other a high-five virally or challenging each other to anything they might want to challenge each other to. But they can also take anything we put on there and post it to the outside world. And also, everything we do, we put up on our social media outlets (Twitter and Facebook). That’s been really big for us. I’ve been able to track business directly back to those free mediums.”

What are your plans for future growth for Iron Tribe?

“We just opened our second location and we’d like to have three to five in the city in the next two years.”

If somebody is interested in joining up, what’s the best way to do that?

“The best way is to go online and look at what we’re about. Take a look at the video tour and see if it’s the program you want to get involved in. If so (and we think you’ll love it!), just contact us for a consult. We’ll give you a tour, show you why we are different, sit down and talk with you about your goals and make a recommendation. If you like it, we’ll do business. If not, we’ll part friends.”

Visit Iron Tribe Fitness:
Web
Twitter
Facebook

2809 Central Avenue
Homewood,  AL 35209
205-874-6300

Jim Pattillo is an experienced litigator. In the past eight years, he has tried over 40 cases to verdict in a variety of areas including insurance coverage disputes, transportation liability, commercial litigation and professional liability. Mr. Pattillo is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of topics regarding litigation and trial practice.  He can be found at twitter.com/jimpattillo and linkedin.com/in/jimpattillo.

You are active in social media.  What value has it added to your practice at this point?

“First of all, it helps me represent my clients in litigation by finding out information about opposing parties in an information over-sharing age.  It’s almost not surprising anymore what things people post that would be relevant in litigation. It also it helps me interact with my corporate and insurance clients.  We are able to relate more on a personal level.”

Do you have any examples of this?

“Any time I am defending a personal injury case, the first thing I do is go to Twitter, Facebook or Myspace and see if they have posted anything relevant to the case.  For example, if somebody claims they were injured in a construction accident falling off a two story roof, and two weeks later they’ve posted something about water skiing out on Lake Martin, that’s certainly something I am going to print off into a PDF in case they decide to change it later.”

What are some of the limitations of social media as it pertains to what you do?

“From a business development standpoint, it has limited value.  I work with corporations and insurance companies and those relationships are rarely established via social media.  On the litigation side, there are a lot of specific rules about discovery, about how you can contact people on the other side that prevent me from taking full access of some things I would otherwise find.  For example, if somebody is represented by an attorney, you can’t add them as a friend on Facebook.  That would be considered an ethical violation–you have to contact them through their attorney.  But, if they have something posted in a public format, if they don’t have their privacy settings set on their social network, then it’s fair game for me.”

What does Blueprint Birmingham mean for you as a small business?

“Birmingham is a city with immense potential.  Blueprint Birmingham is probably the best plan for the city that has come along in quite some time.  Not only does have the potential to increase the vitality and vibrancy of the city, it also has a roadmap for providing jobs, improving schools and boosting the economic center of Alabama.  I’m very hopeful the steering committee will be able to take this plan to places that previous plans (like Region 2020 and MAPS) failed to go.  Looking at the steering committee, this program seems to distinguish itself from its predecessors by a heavy involvement from the business community.  I’m very optimistic that this plan can bring about real change for the city.”

Switching to health care, with the patients bill of rights coming into play recently, where did we win and lose?  Both as individuals and small businesses?

“Some of the changes are considered consumer protections, but as they say, read the fine print.  For example, preventative care is supposed to be covered at no cost.  But there is an issue whether some preventative care actually prolongs life and thus may not be covered at all.  Another example is the provision that requires insurance to pay for coverage at any emergency room regardless of whether it’s in the network.  That’s good.  But anyone that has been to an emergency room will tell you that they are already overcrowded.  Now someone is faced with the possibility of not being able to see a primary care doctor (because it may not be covered if out of network) so they will just go to any ER for a problem that is not an emergency.  That will make them even more crowded that they already are.

“Small businesses will certainly be affected.  There are some tax credits that may be available to them.  But the health care act also requires a certain percentage of any premium be contributed to actual health coverage.  Employers may have to decide whether it is more cost efficient to provide health insurance for employees or to pay a fine and have employees purchase their own insurance through the new health insurance exchanges.”

Mr. Pattillo is speaking at a national meeting of defense lawyers in San Diego on Oct. 22, 2010 on “Social Networking for Litigation and Business Development” for the Defense Research Institute.
http://www.nwkt.com/default.aspx?id=328
http://www.dri.org/open/event_brochures/2010AM.pdf

David Gray graduated from Auburn University with a degree in MIS.  He worked for Drummond Company as a computer programmer for one year before getting a call from a recruiter in Chicago to come work for Grant Thornton.  He did management consulting for them for four years.  He married a fellow Auburn graduate and moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1997 and where he went to work for a Silicon Valley-based start-up.

Despite the fact that the company he was working for was not a dot-com, when the bubble burst in 2001 they were greatly affected and eventually bought by Peoplesoft.  When the acquisition occurred, Dave decided to seek a new opportunity.  He and his family moved back to Alabama and after a short stint at CTS, he decided he wanted to go into business for himself.  He was introduced to Tom Patterson, the founder of DAXKO (DAXKO provides software to YMCAs, JCCs, & Community Centers).  After Dave explained his business idea, Tom instead asked him to come run DAXKO.  After three months of conversations, he accepted and began on January 1, 2003.

Why did you decide to so heavily niche your product?
“Focus is important. I experienced working at another company that was really good at a specific niche.  As we grew, we tried to become too many things to too many people.  When I came on board at DAXKO, I started hammering ‘relentless focus, relentless focus’.  I said that we were going to be good at one thing or die trying.  We interviewed prospects, customers and team members and tried to figure out what made the most sense for us to be.

“I met with Tom and we discussed narrowing our focus.  We felt like the YMCA represented a market that was big enough to get the business to the point of profitability and sustained growth.  It actually turned out to be a bigger market than we initially thought (when we first went into it).  We still have a lot of runway and feel that we can double the size of our business, even if that was the only thing we did.  We are looking to expand into other businesses and we really like the potential that they hold.

“Another thing we believe (as a SaaS company) is to focus on what we do well and outsource the rest (things that aren’t our core competencies).  We wanted to build innovative software that solves customer needs and provide exceptional service, and let somebody else do the rest.  It wasn’t just a focus on our niche and our product, but also a focus of what ‘what do we do internally?’, and whatever wasn’t a core competency, we outsourced.  Hosting is probably the biggest example of that.

“We have to catch ourselves now.  We get the temptation to do other things.  The ability, willingness and discipline to say no to what seems to be big opportunities is important.  There are lots of opportunities when you have creative people.  How you balance chasing some of those and saying no to others is a difficult challenge.”

I’ve heard a lot of positive things about your company culture.  I don’t know anything specifically, but what drives that and how do you lead the way?
“From a high level, we view culture as a competitive advantage. It’s not just the dress-code, the scooters we ride around the office, or our open environment.  Of course all those things are part of our culture, but more important is the way in which we do performance planning, pursue team member development and communicate with our people.  Also, the fact that we serve nonprofit customers who are doing valuable work in their communities is an important aspect of who we are.  The people that are here are pretty humble–there’s not a lot of ego around title or status. All of those things feed the culture and our culture is very, very high on my priority list.

“The CEO really has to define and lead when it comes to deliberately building a culture, or it just won’t happen.  Delegating it to somebody else doesn’t have the same effect and it’s not as genuine.”

How is using social media helpful for somebody who has such a niched product?
“Probably the most useful thing is in the recruiting.  It goes back to the people.  People who are considering working here are really going to dig in deep on that side.  It gives you insights that are hard to get through marketing materials or prepared collateral.  Plus, it’s next to free, right?  It’s a relatively inexpensive way to get out what it’s like to be a customer or a team member.

“We embrace our weirdness.  We’re a bit goofy and do weird stuff!  We create videos for internal use, but if they’re worthy of being posted, we’ll put them out on YouTube.  The reason we do that is because it gives people an easy way to see who we are and show them that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

“Another avenue is our blog at DAXKONation.com.  It really gives our team members a voice.  For those that are thought-leaders and want their voice heard, we really embrace giving them that opportunity.”

What are the most influential business book you’ve read?  Give me a reading list!
“That’s a tough one!  I read a fair amount of books, so there’s a lot to choose from.  But here are some I find myself suggesting often:
-Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competitive Irrelevant
-A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
-Rework
-Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win
-The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
-Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done”

I have a new Small Business Focus forthcoming this week. I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath on the next blog post and I won’t disappoint you!

Take a few minutes today to read this article and let me know your thoughts.  If you want to meet me, let me know and we’ll grab coffee.  You are buying, of course!

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/02/how-to-make-your-network-work.html

Introduction

Birth rates in the United States began to decline in 2008 after rising to their highest level in two decades, and the decrease appears to be linked to the recession, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of state fertility and economic data.

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Source: Pew Research Center

What is it that drove you to be an entrepreneur versus just being a chef?

“I decided at a very young age (17) that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. My father has been an entrepreneur my whole life. The deciding factor for me was being who I want to be, when I want to be it and creating my own universe, if you will, and being able to control what is going on in my life, instead of having other people control it.

“Being an entrepreneur and making my own decisions lets me make the restaurant what I want it to be, everything from the food to the decor. It permeates in every aspect of what I do. I helped build the tables here in the restaurant…they have a significant background. I don’t do things because I just want to make money. You’ll make good money if you believe in and love what you do and share that with other people. I cook because I want to people to experience what I love and give them a piece of what I like to do and people know that. You don’t have to tell them that–they see it and they feel it. I am not here just to make food to sell to make money because I need money. I don’t even think about the money aspect. I know that God will provide that for me because I am working from a place of honesty, not from a place that doesn’t have any truth to it.”

You would say that this restaurant is an outpouring of yourself, right?

“Yes. It’s a passionate link to what I love to do. Every aspect to what I do is about freshness. I try to buy local ingredients as much as possible and import ingredients from Italy. I don’t look to buy cheaper quality products to make more money. I designed the business around being able to support itself by having less-expensive rent and simpler processes of making the food. I don’t need to have five chefs doing all the food to make the plates and maybe having inconsistencies because there is so much change going on. Everything is simply prepared but the quality of the ingredients is what the person sees, not a mask of different sauces and things to disguise the low quality of the product. People see that. They know what I have is good quality.”

I understand that you didn’t go to culinary school but rather chose to do apprenticeships. Talk about that decision.

“The reason I didn’t go to culinary school is that you are taught a lot of book element but if you don’t have the instinctiveness that is needed to cook, you are just going to be a par chef. I did an apprenticeship with a chef when I started cooking. I learned a lot from him.

“I came up with the idea of learning from people that really know their trade. I wanted to get exposure with chefs that knew their stuff, chefs that I knew I could get the truth from, and then build off of that. So I can ask myself, “OK, why I am doing this? I can do this and I can also do this as well” but I know that it comes from a place of authenticity. It taught me a lot. In the small period of time, you can learn what you need to know.”

Do you cater your dishes around what you think your clientele wants or do you try to do food evangelism?

“I am not going to sell myself out to please every single person–you just can’t. I do things simply and I use ingredients that people like and then I get them to try new things. If I followed everybody in the market, I would end up being the same as everybody else. You can still do chicken but also do something they’ve never done before. You can do both things at the same time. So give them something they are used to but you prepare it in a different way that gives them something new to try. It keeps that excitement going. If they love it, it leaves what I call a ‘flavor memory’.”

Some of my readers have never been to Bettola. On their first visit, what should they get that will bring them back for more?

“I would say the pizza. The type of pizza that we do is a classic Neapolitan pizza which is truly authentic–the way its been done for the past 300 years. It was invented in Naples. A person’s idea of what pizza is in the States is nothing like what it really is. There’s nothing like it in the city. You have to have so many elements that work together to make it happen. You have to understand the philosophy [behind making authentic pizza] to even think about starting to do so.”

How has our current economic situation impacted your restaurant?

“Since our food quality is really high, we use the same quality food that a fine dining restaurant would use in town. I fit into a certain category because of the level of quality and the lower cost. People that dine at fine restaurants can “step down” to my place and come more frequently. But you can also come and share things and not spend a lot of money. Looking back at the numbers, we were 7% down from the year before. We haven’t been affected as much as some. We had a good, loyal following from the start. People know that they can come and get the same level of quality as a fine dining restaurant for a more affordable price.”

What are your thoughts on using Twitter and Facebook?

“I am getting ready to start doing that. I am going to do blogs and get people connected with what I am doing on a weekly basis and bring them into the business a little bit so they can see what we do and be a part of growing what we do. Listing recipes, sending out invitations for certain things, I want people to be connected with what I am doing. I want to create a brand of what I am doing around Birmingham.”

Bettola

2901 2nd Avenue South

Birmingham, AL 35233

205.731.6499

bettola@bettolarestaurant.com

The award is a people’s choice contest that allows patrons in the chamber’s seven-county region to vote for their favorite small businesses in the area, the alliance said in a news release.

Click to read the full story.